- What if I try and my plan to ... doesn't work?
- What if I ask and the answer is ...?
- What if my encounter with ... doesn't turn out the way I thought it would?
I left out the details in the questions above on purpose. Others have their own specifics that they could fill in to make their own "What if..." list. Think about it for a minute or two. Does it seem to you that thinking about the "What ifs..." may not be a good thing? Why do we do this "What if...?" thing to ourselves? I wonder how many sleep interrupted nights there are out there for those who wonder what if the alarm clock doesn't go off...? (I apologize to those of you who will now add that one to your list.)
The thing is -- I know that I am not alone in "playing" this game. A lot of us spend time floundering about in the "What if ..." game. I even wonder if every human being does this at least at some point? Is this phenomenon cultural or do people all over the world do this to themselves? Was this happening in the 13th century? Maybe we should give all this "what if... business" some thought. Seriously -- this seeming waste of time ranks right up there with the time-honored -- "Try not to think about it", "Put that on the shelf for now" or "I should have said...".
The thing is -- I know that I am not alone in "playing" this game. A lot of us spend time floundering about in the "What if ..." game. I even wonder if every human being does this at least at some point? Is this phenomenon cultural or do people all over the world do this to themselves? Was this happening in the 13th century? Maybe we should give all this "what if... business" some thought. Seriously -- this seeming waste of time ranks right up there with the time-honored -- "Try not to think about it", "Put that on the shelf for now" or "I should have said...".
When in that "iffy" state of mind, I always remind myself of something our Mom used to say when difficult circumstances were looming. She would say, "I am a fatalist ...whatever is written on the wind." .... Those words may have offered a bit of comfort to me for a little while, but they never even once helped over the long term. Yet -- how kind of her to try to ease us through the situation -- whatever it was. I wonder if it worked for her to leave it up to the wind? I hope so. I sincerely do.
Wouldn't we be better off if we could somehow train ourselves to think about things a little differently? Maybe if we start slowly... What if we could...? What if there are people out there who have already overcome this and are just sitting back watching with a smile and waiting for us "what iffers" to catch up? Or -- what if it is not a total waste of time and energy? What if there some important lesson to be learned? What if there is something I am missing? Good grief... What if...? Does anyone out there have an answer?
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