For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these:
“It might have been.”
John Greenleaf Whittier
There is something uniquely painful about lost possibilities. Failure has an ending. Rejection gives an answer. Even heartbreak provides certainty. But "it might have been" lingers. It follows us through years and settles quietly into the corners of our minds. Not because we chose wrongly, but because we never chose at all. The opportunities we ignore often remain alive far longer than the ones we pursue. They become alternate lives we occasionally visit in our imagination, wondering who we might have become if we had been a little braver, a little more honest, a little less afraid of looking foolish. Whittier understood that regret is rarely born from action. More often, it grows from hesitation. From standing at the threshold and convincing ourselves there will always be another chance.
