I’ve had a thought tumbling around my head for the last few days. I’m not quite sure how to put it into words. Perhaps if I just start writing, the words might sort themselves out.
In the movie “Sliding Doors”, we are introduced to the idea that every chance happening in our lives produces multiple outcomes - where every decision we make produces similarly multiple outcomes. Mathematicians have term for the resulting “choose your own adventure” story book - combinatorial explosion.
While Sliding Doors is a wonderful way to re-frame “what if”, I wonder if it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Sometimes we can SEE the sliding door, right in front of us. We can see it open, and we can see it close. Of course we don’t see a door as such - but given a situation unfolding in front of us, our action or inaction might cause any number of outcomes. And we know.
We know when we’re on the precipice. If we do something in the moment we wonder what might have happened if we had not. If we don’t do anything, we kick ourselves for the rest of our lives - wondering “what if?”.
I wonder if some people are better at being brave than others. Some are always there - making the snap decisions - forcing the path they wanted to happen. Some people debate if doing this or that is a good idea, the moment passes, and they perpetually find themselves wondering “what if I had said?”, or “what if I had done?”.
“What if I had taken that chance?”
I find myself thinking about the past a lot lately - wondering about fleeting moments. While most people probably trample through unfolding events without a second thought, significant moments burn brightly in my memory like signposts to futures that never happened.
That’s the thing, isn’t it - there’s no knowing the destination of paths not taken.
Meanwhile the machinery of the universe keeps turning - continuing to present us with decisions to make, and paths to take. Every day. Every hour.
Do we choose our path carefully and wisely, or tumble forwards with our heart on our sleeve and our feet hopefully beneath us when we need them most? Or do we screw our courage to the sticking place, and leap into the unknown?