My A-Z theme for the month of April is romance and the modern, technology-driven cubicle dweller (like me).

I’m cheating just a little with my word today, because O is for (if) only. It’s something I think almost everyone does too much of. Living through if-only’s.

(and since these posts are about romance…)
If only I’d asked her out.

If only I’d told him yes.

If only I’d listened when he said he thought my new haircut was cute.

If only I hadn’t pushed her away.

Many years ago, I vowed to myself to try and eliminate as many if-only’s from my life as possible. Not that I don’t still look back occasionally, but once it’s happened, it can’t be changed. You can try and modify the results, or push things in a new direction, but until the guy who invented time travel two-hundred years in the future shows up in the now and tells us the secret, we’ll never be able to change the past.

So instead it makes sense to try and take advantage of those things before they become if-only’s. I know, hindsight and all that, so it’s not always possible. But if hesitation and doubt are the only things overriding your faith that it’s the right way to go…

…don’t let it become an if-only.

What have you done recently that scared you but you’re glad you dove into? For me, I submitted something to a new (for me) market. Regardless of their answer, at least I’ll never have to wonder what would have happened if I’d just done it. Because I did.