There’s a big difference between focusing on the present with, “What if I try this?” and focusing on the past with, “What if I had tried that?”

The first lives in the world of possibility and play. It embraces creativity. It explores all avenues.

The second lives in the world of regret. It uses creativity to invent paths that were never taken, and details of unchosen adventures.

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The time to try, and consider, and experiment ... that time is now. Because the story that begins with “What if I had ... ” is a story that leaves the narrator painfully disheartened.