What If (Or That's The Way It Could Have Been)

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10-04-2007, 04:12 AM
The Ceej

What If (Or That's The Way It Could Have Been)

I was taking my nightly bath when a thought crossed my mind. I've often thought about going back in time to change things that have happened in my life, but ultimately decided that, if I could, I wouldn't. How do I know I wouldn't make things worse or change who I am?

However, tonight, I thought about one point in my life. A time when I gave my contact information to a friend at work. (Let's call him Andy because his name is Andrew and he'd kill me if he knew I was calling him that.) Andy got fired that night and lost my contact information. I told another friend at work (Let's call him Snott because his name is Scott and I don't like him anymore), I was trying to get ahold of Andy. A few weeks later, Snott ran into Andy and told Andy I was trying to get ahold of him, giving Andy my contact information. Since then, Andy and I have become great friends and have made a great impact in each other's lives. Snott, however, has decided that he no longer wants to be friends with either of us.

So, what I was thinking about this:
I'd like to go to an alternate dimension where I never told Snott I was looking for Andy and see how much different my life was, but without actually changing anything about where I am now. You know. Just a visit. Do I ever find Andy? Is Snott still my friend here? What is different about my life? What is the same?

Same with what I mentioned in the time travel thread about going back to when I was (allegedly) 19 and telling myself who I was back then. Would I even listen to myself? How would it affect my life today? I'd like to visit an alternate dimension where I did that to see where I was today if I had done that. Am I better or worse off than I am now? It'd be interesting to see how things are different based on one simple change in my life.

So, the topic is this:
Are there any decisions, milestones, or minor events in your life that you wonder how different your life would be if they played out differently? Would you like to go to a dimension where you made an alternate decision, or where a milestone never happened or happened differently, or where a minor event played out just a little different just to see what your life was like now? What parts of your life would you like to look at in terms of what may be different or the same? What parts might be better? What parts might be worse? Can you speculate at some things that might be different? Keep in mind, you're not actually changing anything. You're only looking at what would have been.

The theory of this dimension is this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Some Guy On Star Trek Quoting Someone Else That I Can't Remember

Everything that can possibly happen, does happen. Just in a different dimension.

You're visiting this dimension temporarily.
10-04-2007, 04:26 AM
Seraphic

I always wondered how things would've been if I hadn't failed algebra in middle school and never fallen behind and stuff... and passed my AP exams my senior year,if I would ultimately been a better college student.
And had I never had a relationship my senior year,would I have actually passed those exams.
I feel like I mightve gotten into a better school or something....but I guess ultimately the same person on the inside.
I also wonder how my life would be if my parents had never gotten divorced.Would my life be any different with my parents still together,making my life more financially stable? I feel like I would've, but i probably wouldn't be living in the same place,or met the people in my life.
10-04-2007, 04:40 AM
escobert

Yes, there was an event about 6 years ago that drastically changed my life. I wish I knew why it happened...
10-04-2007, 05:37 AM
Lynx

well ive wondered what it would have been like if i never became friends with this one girl. she helped me a lot with breaking out of my shell but she also happened to be the biggest actually only major heartbreak of my life.

i met her through a friend i was on vacation wiht one of my friends and his sister brought one of her friends. she just joking said lets be best friends if she would ahve said that to my friend everything would ahve been avoided and id be a much different person. she took me from being a sad quiet person to an outgoing happy one. she then over the next 2 years broke my heart twice making me a very angry person. but now with her out of my life i think im doing all right i just wonder if id still eb the same as i am now or how i would be different.

but i believe in 1 thing. no regrets so i try to never look back. doc brown and his dilorian could pull up but id turn him down on some time traveling.
10-04-2007, 05:45 AM
Araciel

i wish i had the soup.
10-04-2007, 05:48 AM
Rengori

Type less please.

There's nothing in my life I would want to really change, everything that's drastically changed it was either sorted out eventually or out of my control.
10-04-2007, 06:34 AM
Ouch!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rengori

There's nothing in my life I would want to really change, everything that's drastically changed it was either sorted out eventually or out of my control.

Bingo. Despite all the roadblocks I've hit, I'm happy with where I'm at now.
10-04-2007, 08:48 AM
Rostum

What if... I took the red pill?
10-04-2007, 09:03 AM
Resha

I always think of how the smallest things have changed my life :p and changed me, as a person. I wouldn't say I've evolved. But yeah. I don't know if I...would consciously change everything/anything. Although there are those times when I'm desperate to just not be me. But sometimes I'm rather glad to be me. And glad that things fell the way they did! DOES THAT MAKE SENSE *heartburn*
10-04-2007, 09:24 AM
blackmage_nuke

I'd go back in time and stop myself from reading this thread
10-04-2007, 01:38 PM
Jess

I would change nothing in my life to date, because if I did it would change completely from what it is today and I'm very happy right now. :jess:
10-04-2007, 02:57 PM
The Ceej

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ouch!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rengori

There's nothing in my life I would want to really change, everything that's drastically changed it was either sorted out eventually or out of my control.

Bingo. Despite all the roadblocks I've hit, I'm happy with where I'm at now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackmage_nuke

I'd go back in time and stop myself from reading this thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jess

I would change nothing in my life to date, because if I did it would change completely from what it is today and I'm very happy right now. :jess:

You're not getting the point of this thread. This is not about going back and changing anything. This is only about looking at the way things would be now if something went different in your life. And the end of the day, you're still where you are now. You just have some insight into what things could have been.
10-04-2007, 06:02 PM
Quindiana Jones

I've got a few things.
10-04-2007, 06:11 PM
Ouch!

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Ceej

You're not getting the point of this thread. This is not about going back and changing anything. This is only about looking at the way things would be now if something went different in your life. And the end of the day, you're still where you are now. You just have some insight into what things could have been.

Oh, I very much understood that. My point is that because I'm happy with where I've ended up, I feel no reason to find such an alternate perspective. What's done is done, and there's no reason for me to ponder alternatives and consider alternate realities.
10-04-2007, 06:24 PM
Xander

I kinda imagine all the tiny decisions and how they affect everything, from the not-very-important to the stuff that I think really affects things.. actually I think I did that since seeing red dwarf when the multiple dimensions thing was brought up :p

Its really interesting to think how many different outcomes there could be, but yeah like Ouch! said I don't ponder it that much because it is kinda related to regretting things and wondering if you could change things and thats usually just pointless and upsets you when its too late anyway :)
10-04-2007, 08:24 PM
theundeadhero

What if you had dropped the soap in the tub, slipped, hit your head on the sink, and then developed the flux capacitor! What if snott got a cold and then sneezed violently, which sent globs of snot flying out of his nose and onto the cheesesticks?! We'll never know... :shifty:
10-04-2007, 09:56 PM
Psychotic

If I had never joined EoFF I think I would either be dead or a millionaire. Maybe a dead millionaire.
10-04-2007, 11:34 PM
Rengori

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ouch!

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Ceej

You're not getting the point of this thread. This is not about going back and changing anything. This is only about looking at the way things would be now if something went different in your life. And the end of the day, you're still where you are now. You just have some insight into what things could have been.

Oh, I very much understood that. My point is that because I'm happy with where I've ended up, I feel no reason to find such an alternate perspective. What's done is done, and there's no reason for me to ponder alternatives and consider alternate realities.

Exactly.

And also, I'm tired and don't feel like thinking right now.
10-04-2007, 11:38 PM
JackNapier

If I had the ability to do so I'd play around with it constantly, seeing what small things had big impacts etc. just out of curiosity. But all in all, I wouldn't change anything permanently, I like the current position I'm in.
10-05-2007, 05:32 AM
Proxy

I have like 1000's of "what if's" in my head.
But even 1 would change the course of my history.
I wanna just go back and do one. To see what would happen.
10-08-2007, 10:29 PM
bipper

I have always wondered what would have happened if I did not listen to my best friend when he told me this girl did not like me, so that I would date someone sles when this other girl really like me. I still kick myself for that. lol teenagers. Either way, I really have nothing out side of slippery slope to follow. Since life kinda blows with the hand that I have played, I am just going to pretend that my life woulda been happily ever after.

The decision actually solely put me on the path to making some of the greatest mistakes in my life. I prolly would have hit college more aggressively when I was 16 and stuck with dreams vs realist thinking. The changes would prolly be to sever for me to project correctly.
10-08-2007, 10:50 PM
Iceglow

I'm sure that each of the points I raised in Loony BoBs thread about the changing points in your life would be interesting to see the alternative playouts from or even the complete opposite turn out from all of them together. I know the theory of the multiverse (multiple dimensions to those about to make a "the one" reference) states it is possible to slide to that dimension (should one be able to theorectically plot out the correct one) and even see yourself and what happened to you. However it'd be interesting but I'd never change anything. Each decision we make shapes our future our present...our fate. Our destiny what we are destined to do in this life we do not control but we do control how we are fated to fulfil it. Live without regret for the very things you regret are completely beyond your control and not to mention not only aren't they the things you wish you hadn't done in hind sight you merely depress yourself and make it so you cannot accept your reality.
10-08-2007, 10:52 PM
ReloadPsi

An alternate dimension in which I've just finished my final year of university after staying on at the same high school to do French and German A-levels, subsequently going on to university to take 'em to degree level.

Let's say there's another one, then, where the bump on my head from this afternoon actually killed me, and I'm dead.
10-08-2007, 11:10 PM
Jessweeee♪

OMG!

Uncle Johnny: I'm eating dinner with my girlfriend's family, wanna come Jessica?

Me: hmmm....

UJ: They have a playstation o:

Me: 'kay :D

I played FFVII for a few minutes and thought it was alright so when I got home I found my uncle's copy of FFVIII and fell in love with the series.

If it wasn't for Final Fantasy, I wouldn't like the things I do, know the people I know, or be who I am today. I would be so different I'd probably even look like another person. Not to mention I'd have never met Mogi-chan n.n

EDIT: No, I wouldn't want to see :p
10-08-2007, 11:16 PM
Mogi

If there has ever been anything in my life in which I could have made an action that would have directly or indirectly caused me to move to Texas, I'd probably just be pissed that I didn't take the right action, so no, I wouldn't want to see.
:P
10-08-2007, 11:38 PM
NeoTifa

i want to know what life would be like if my dad didnt drink or smoke. would my parents still be devoriced? would alex still be like he is, or even born at all? would we be richer? have a better house? a better neighborhood? a better education? less stress? *sigh* i wished things were different, but i wouldnt be where i am today if i wasnt so highly motivated to be exactly opposite of my parents.
10-09-2007, 03:46 AM
Shiny

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Ceej

I was taking my nightly bath

Pics plz. :joker:

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Ceej

Are there any decisions, milestones, or minor events in your life that you wonder how different your life would be if they played out differently?

Yeah, but I don't really dwell over what could have been different too much. Besides, I can't control anyone's actions but mine anyway.
10-09-2007, 03:57 AM
bipper

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiny

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Ceej

I was taking my nightly bath

Pics plz. :joker:

GTFO
10-09-2007, 04:00 AM
Shiny

Quote:

Originally Posted by bipper

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiny

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Ceej

I was taking my nightly bath

Pics plz. :joker:

GTFO

No wai.
10-09-2007, 04:00 AM
Fonzie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psychotic

If I had never joined EoFF I think I would either be dead or a millionaire. Maybe a dead millionaire.

Maybe even both!
10-09-2007, 04:03 AM
The Ceej

Bipper's only happy because he has the pics. You want them, you gotta go through Bipper.
10-10-2007, 01:48 AM
Gnostic Yevon

Ceej, actually, according to some versions of cosmology, the many worlds hypothesis hold up pretty well. So there is a dimension where you changed anything you wanted to change.

Anyway, I'm not sure that changing the past would change much.

If Abe Lincoln had lost the election, I think another event would have still triggered the civil war. There just isn't a way to make history radically different. I don't think it would work for your personal history either. Eventually you'll end up back where we are.