If only I had …

by Joseph Battaglia

It’s been said that 81% of Americans want to write a book someday. That’s about 258 million, give or take a few thousand. And yet, how many will actually write the book, do all that it takes to publish it, and then get it out to the market? Some estimates say fewer than 2%. That’s still more than 6 million books, but it’s a far cry from those who say they want to.

“If only I had…”

Sadder words have never been written. They can apply to anything you may have wished you’d done differently. Life is full of these disappointments – little and big.

There was no way you could have known what the stock market would do, or how taking a different road home might have avoided that accident, or even that what you said to someone could have been taken in a different way.

You are who you are! Given the same circumstances and conditions, if you had it to do over again you would likely respond the same way you did the first time. We make the decisions we make based on the information and feelings we have at the time.

All of these “should haves,” “could haves,” and “would haves” are the way we learn to navigate our lives. As we get older, we get wiser and tend to stop making those less-than-optimal decisions, and have fewer of those “foot in the mouth” moments.

So what’s the lesson to be learned here?

• Wishing won’t make it so, but living in the past will surely prevent you from living here and now, in the present.
• Live your life full out, without regrets.
• Learn the lessons as they come to you, and keep moving forward.

Write that book, patch up that relationship, go after that really big dream. Whatever it is, give it a try! Make sure you don’t say, at the end of your life, “If only I had…”

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Joseph P Battaglia is a Relationship Coach who works with his wife Laurie, a Career, Leadership and Life Coach to coach people over 40 ready to reclaim their power and spark! Together, they own Living the Dream Coaches, LLC in Scottsdale Arizona. Call Joseph at (888)505-5762 or email at coaches@livingthedreamcoaches.com. Joseph is currently writing a book on how to achieve and maintain greater intimacy in committed relationships.