Four or five key plays determine the outcome of a game, and the team that wins the majority of those plays usually ends up on the winning side of the score.
The above phrase has been spoken by successful coaches in various sports. The challenge is that no one knows when these plays will occur during the course of a game. You could draw a parallel to this with our own lives since a handful of decisions (plays) go a long way in determining our future success or failure.
“Omaha!” Peyton Manning shouted this city’s name while barking signals to commence a play. I’m not sure if “Omaha” meant he was changing the play, but it does highlight that a quarterback has the ability to “audible” into a different play if he identifies an awaiting defensive formation that will wreak havoc on the current offensive play call. The new play emanating from the “audible” doesn’t always result in a positive outcome, but it does afford the quarterback the opportunity to change a play at the last possible moment to one he believes has a greater probability of success.
How often did you approach a fork in the road where you were undecided as to which path to choose? How many times did you procrastinate over a decision, with some level of doubt remaining after careful deliberations? Decisions we believe to be life altering are usually accompanied by a thoughtful and time-consuming decision-making process. We sometimes second-guess the decisions we made, leaving us to wonder what fate awaited us if we’d called an audible and chosen a different path.
I don’t fit the stereotyped profile of someone longing to call an audible and replay a significant event from their life. I’m happily married with a wonderful family, an upper-middle-class lifestyle, and an envious network of friends to socialize with. I find myself approaching a milestone fiftieth birthday, which during my youth I naїvely equated to being ancient. I occasionally glance in the rearview mirror at magical moments from my past, wondering how they flew by so quickly. As I reminisce over my past, I sometimes innocently ask, What if I’d made a few different decisions earlier in my life? This isn’t the result of being unhappy; rather, it’s driven by the curiosity associated with wanting to know how my life might be different if key plays from my past had had different outcomes.
Most people would like to believe that if they had the power to change their past, it would improve their future. This hypothesis seems logical; however, we shouldn’t discount the fact that a change to our past may lead to more difficult decisions in our future. Finding out “what if” may lead to complications we’re not prepared to face. It may lead to discovering a hidden DNA we never imagined existed in our character.
What if you were given the chance to go back in your life and make different decisions and in the process change your own history? Would you dismiss such an opportunity or be intrigued by the offer and want to hear more?
I feel uniquely qualified to ask these questions since I was offered the opportunity to replay key moments in my life. I was able to audible into a different decision and experience the consequences of tempting fate and finding out “what if,” with the resultant effects a constant companion the remainder of my life.