Off-track on a Sunday Morning

In the end we only regret the chances we didn't take.
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​by Skip Cohen

It's Sunday morning, and as always, I'm off track from business, marketing, and photography. I had no idea what to write about until Melody Beattie finally dropped an idea I can't entirely agree with. In her daily meditations, she talked about the negative side of "what if's."

"What if's" can make us crazy. They put control over our life in someone else's hands. "What if's" are a sign that we have reverted to thinking that people have to react in a particular way for us to continue on our course."

I'm a what if guy...but NOT the way Melody's using the expression. I'm the knucklehead who uses what if as a push to the positive side of things. To me, what if is a question, meaning, "What if I try something different?" What if is all about the positive. It's about progress and pushing the edge of my personal envelope.
 
"What if" is the challenge I make to myself all the time. It's the way I analyze the pros and cons of trying something new. And it includes, "What if what I'm about to try is a failure?" Well, my answer is always the same - "I'll try something else!"

The biggest what if in our house over the past year was probably "What if we got two puppies?" Sheila and I wrestled with it and, in November, picked up Lucy and Belle. 

The next 90 days were hell. Through the stress of two pups, we'd painfully ask ourselves, "What made us think we had the patience to train two dogs?"

Well, now we're saying, "What if we didn't have the girls?" 

These two pups, now ten months old, are entirely entrenched as members of the family. They've figured it out, and the pure joy they bring us, especially through the pandemic, is beyond measure. So our what if has become, "What if we didn't have them?"
 
So, the next time you're getting ready to try something new, hesitating and using "what if" as a negative, switch it around and ask, "What if I don't try this?" The pandemic has changed everything in our lives. We're all dealing with a new normal and how to stay positive, motivated, and keep those creative juices flowing. Asking "what if?" is your license to try something new, and as long as you learn something in the process, there's no such thing as failure!

Wishing everybody a Sunday of peace and time to appreciate everything in your life that makes you smile. It's easy to forget all the good things in life when "fun" is buried under the stress of today's challenges. And when it comes to the problem of getting business back on track, ask yourself, "What if I try something totally different this week?"

Happy Sunday, or Monday, if you're on the other side of the world!

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