What If?

Each friend is important, and each friend holds a different purpose. My friend Ana, for example, is keenly adept at making me imagine a world that is brighter, warmer, weirder and more magical. Whether through tarot cards or astrology or something else entirely, she has always found a way to share the possibility of things just beyond my sense of normal. “But what if?” she sometimes says. And yes, what if? It is easy to get consumed by routines, by the day-to-day, by a fixation on things from the past that didn’t go the way we would have wanted. But what if there was something else? What if a better world, at least for a moment, was possible (with a little imagination and an abundance of hope)?

It is easy to get consumed by routines, by the day-to-day, by a fixation on things from the past that didn’t go the way we would have wanted.

Looking beyond what she’s always known and been taught helped her to also see the routines, the day-to-day, in a new light. I have a tendency to enter situations with fear and doubt. Anxiety is an old friend. But once, Ana said, “What if you imagined the best thing possible? Think about the best case scenario. What if that is what happens? How would you feel then?” And I thought about it. Really dug deep. Yes, it wasn’t a permanent solution, but it was something better than the alternatives. Because what I found was kindness and beauty. I found happiness and peace. I found the sort of ease I thought was never possible. I entered into my next challenge not with thoughts about the worst things, but about the best things. And although the reality was not all rainbows, it was something better than what I expected before that shift in worldview. For that, I am grateful.