Have you ever stopped to wonder “What if?” about your life – and how things could have turned out very differently?
I know that it’s a thought that occasionally crosses my mind, usually in relation to certain pivotal moments. If you’ve ever seen the movie Sliding Doors, you will know what I mean!
Here are some of the “what if” questions I’ve asked myself over the years …
What if … I’d had a “normal” childhood, instead of growing up with a mother hell bent on destroying everyone around her? Would I have done better at school? Could I have studied journalism at university, and become the next Ita Buttrose, or maybe given Mia Freedman a run for her money?
What if … I’d run away from home as a teenager, like I yearned to do?
What if … I hadn’t had three younger siblings to look after? Yup, probably would have been on the streets.
What if … I hadn’t broken off my first engagement? I think I can say, with 100% certainty, that I would now be divorced.
What if … I’d found a teaching job straight out of college, and never worked as a clerk in the public service? I would never have met my hubster!
What if … when I did get that public service job, they’d placed me in the Department of Justice instead of the Superannuation Office, which was the other alternative? Again, I would never have met my Bear!
What if … I hadn’t quit teaching. What if I’d stuck it out? Would I ever have grown to love it?
What if … I hadn’t recognised I had a problem, and never sought out help for my chronic depression? Would I still be here? Would our marriage have survived?
What if … we’d kept our kids at the private school they started off at? Would it have made much of a difference to their lives? #parentingregrets
What if … we’d had another child?
What if … they hadn’t been able to revive me after my near death experience? VERY thankful I am still here – I hate to think of how awful it would have been for the hubster and my two kidlets have coped?
What if … we hadn’t bought this house from our landlords back in 2010? Where would we be living now?
What if … I wasn’t made redundant in 2012? I was stagnating there – would I be brain dead by now LOL?
What if … I’d gotten a job instead of starting my own business after my redundancy? Bet I wouldn’t be loving life half as much!
What if … I’d never started this blog?!
What if … I found fame and fortune as a blogger (hey I can dream!)?
What do you think of as the biggest “what if” moment in your life?
Wow! Love this post, Janet. I often wonder about what if but then push it out of my mind lol!!! It’s fun to think of the alternative scenarios though.
It can be hard to think about sometimes, but mostly I think I made the right choices!
Love the post! I sometimes have these thoughts, wondering what would have happened if I had made different decisions in my late teens and early 20s- should I have continued travelling the world instead of settling down/getting married/having kids in my mid 20s? Should I have bought an investment property when I was 18 (yes! lol) and still at home with my parents? Should I have started blogging sooner (yes! lol). But then Im also thankful that things happened the way they did- I “settled down” before I had a chance to climb the corporate ladder (and then quickly learnt that family is more important to me than career so I probably saved myself years of long hours in the corporate world). I guess lessons appear to us when we are ready for them!
I love that thought Natalie – lessons (and opportunities) appear when we are ready for them!
Oh yesssss…..the what if’s – mine comes back to what if I’d been able to do my teaching degree (my parents wouldn’t support me through uni), what if I’d married my old boyfriend, what if we’d stayed living in the city. Oh my goodness there are a million what if’s – I’m not even going any further down that rabbit hole and I’m really glad that despite them all I’m really happy where I am today. Great post Janet!
Haha yes I’ve wondered about some of my old boyfriends, how things could have ended up. You might find this post about them entertaining: https://middleagedmama.com.au/confessions-of-facebook-stalker/ 🙂
Yes it’s a good question. I sometimes wonder what my life would be like if I had stayed in Townsville and not moved to Thornlands in Brisbane, if I had stayed a teacher, if we’d had another child. The best part of all this kind of thinking though is that I wouldn’t change a thing if I had to do it all over again ?
We are very fortunate to be happy with exactly where we have ended up I think Helen 🙂
Yes sliding doors alright! I often wonder where I would be without the man I married or without my two wonderful children. I also wonder if I hadn’t persevered with my blog where I’d be – probably doing boring bookkeeping somewhere! I think like you, I’ve made the best choices in my life that have led me to the contentment I have now.
I’m so glad you’re blogging now too!
Hey Janet, this is a great post and i hear you on some of these too! If you haven’t already done so, why not link this up for my Monday links as I think it would be a great read for others! Denyse x
Hi Denyse, and thank you! I’d love to link up but am hesitant as I just don’t have the time to visit other links at the moment 🙁