What-if-itis

photo courtesy of stock.xchng

Do you suffer from What-if-itis?  That's where you have a moment (long or short) and you think about a previous experience and your mind starts to question... What if.... 

...what if I had said that snappy comeback to that bully instead of walking away, head hanging?

...what if I had made the decision to get on the Barenaked Ladies tour bus?

...what if I hadn't moved to Ohio?

...what if I had continued on in acting?

...what if {insert your own thoughts here}

I have gotten better at not suffering from what-if-itis.  In the past, though, I had been afflicted by this disease often.

What's changed?  Well, I'd like to believe that as I've grown older, I've become more willing to take the Risks.  Risking my heart in the past has often brought about so much pain.  But I have learned it also brought about great and fantastic rewards.  Today, making the risk in order to potentially reap those rewards is happening more and more often.

In the past, I have also over-analyzed all of the possible outcomes of a decision for any given circumstance, and typically a single perceived negative outcome would have 100 times more power than 10 perceived positive outcomes.  Taking the risk in these circumstances more often than not reaps positive results, rather than negative. 

And I love learning that.  What-if-itis is slowly becoming a disease of my past.  I'm more and more likely to risk my heart and risk making a choice to do something, rather than run from it out of fear of a negative result. 


By the way... I've also answered a lot of those what-if-itis wonderings...

I DID talk confront a bully and it was very empowering and has made me much less tolerant of that behavior today.

If I hadn't moved to Ohio, I never would have met my husband and kids, or the fabulous friends I have surrounding me today.

If I hadn't given up on acting, I probably never would have begun scrapbooking and art-ing.  And I love that part of my life so very much!

And getting on the Barenaked Ladies tour bus?  I really did have that opportunity, oh-so many years ago.  Not taking that risk is still something I have the what-if-itis about.  But if the chance were to come along again, I'm pretty sure I'd make the same decision, so it doesn't matter anyway.

So overall, I believe that Risk = a happier Kai. 

Although, I still don't think I'll be jumping out of an airplane any day soon. 

How about you?  Do you suffer from what-if-itis?  Have you begun to knock that disease out of your life?  Join us and celebrate RISK today!