I often wonder how different my life would be had I taken every opportunity and not missed that serendipitous event. Would I ultimately be happier? Only this weekend I missed the chance to see the northern lights – an extremely rare event in my area – probably by two hours at most, only to see the marvellous pics taken by those joyously revelling in this magical spectacle (or so some top of the range cameras would lead you to believe). Yes this was worse than missing that fireball, which some had predicted.
So my life has been a litany of missed once-in-a-lifetime experiences. And yet to counter that I overcompensate: downloading the solar weather app and booking a holiday in Norway (just on the off-chance of seeing it) which I hadn’t thought I could afford. Though, as with taking a chance submitting my work to an agent or publisher, I fear I’m setting myself up for disappointment.
You can’t game luck, no matter how much thought goes into it. Believe me I’ve tried, only to end up feeling or looking foolish.
Yet success sometimes does depends on luck, and depends on seizing the day (or night). Then again, I think about those opportunities taken I later regretted – sending off an earlier draft novel to a publisher who I happened to see featured on WordPress, no less, thinking I’d seized my chance only to have my regret compounded when the rejection arrives.
Ah yes, regret and rejection – those two bedfellows. Yet if I hadn’t taken some chances that led to rejection I might still feel regret. And don’t they say failure builds character? I’m sure someone must have.
But what about the things you do to compensate for that you’ve missed out on?
Maybe taking a risk, moving out of your tried and tested itinerary, can indeed lead to greater opportunities. And I know that it’s mostly the things you contemplate doing but don’t – usually by overthinking the risks – that leads to the biggest regrets.
My published books:
World’s Beyond Time UK Worlds Beyond Time (US)