What’s your biggest “what if” moment?

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Reasonable-Fail-1921@reddit

When I was 18 I was looking to get out of a rubbish job and applied somewhere else, only for them to choose someone internal. However, they told me I was the best candidate they’d ever said no to and asked if they could hold onto my details. Fast forward a year and I’d completely forgotten all about it, I was now working in Asda and didn’t mind it. I got an e-mail from the company telling me they’d just promoted the person they initially picked for the job and was I still interested? I couldn’t be bothered changing jobs again so soon so just told them I’d found something else and never gave it a second though. With 12 years of hindsight I really wish I’d taken it when I had very few responsibilities just to see where it would’ve taken me, rather than staying on at Asda. I’m happy enough where I am now (not Asda) and own my house etc but do still wonder from time to time where I’d be if I’d just taken it.

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Available-Emu1739@reddit

What if my A level exam was marked a few marks higher initially which would’ve got me into my first choice university that wasn’t local. It got remarked and I got the extra marks but by then the place was full and I settled with my second choice uni which was local. I was thinking about it yesterday and just so much would be different in my life I expect, it’s crazy. All because of some random exam marker that wrongly marked me down a few marks. I can’t argue with how things have turned out but still, I’d love to see how it could’ve turned out.

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BECKYISHERE@reddit

What if I'd actually done some work at school, got qualifications and got a good job? Rather than lots of bitty jobs in waitressing and retail, now working in an office but could have done much better over the years.

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wonkyOnion@reddit

Same hear. For years I was working in warehouses, coffee shops and pubs, because I wasn't confident enough to step up and start trying to get the job I always wanted to do. Got it there about 3 years ago, but I could have had my today's income 10 years ago. Still taking loans for furnitures that I could have bought 8 years ago 🤣

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Thats_The_Chap@reddit

I was offered the chance to buy Bitcoin not long after it was launched. For a £5k investment I would have had something like 5000-10000 bitcoin. I didn’t understand it at the time (I still don’t really) so I passed: had I invested I would now have more millions than I would know what to do with. Yeah, so… do not ask me for financial advice, because it will be shit

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wonkyOnion@reddit

I did hear about dude that gave away 10k in bitcoins (when they almost didn't have value) for a pizza. Obviously yt can serve you all sorts of bs, but I think he was some celebrity (yeah, that actually doesn't make him any more truthful), but if it's true, I think he made even bigger mistake 😬

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DrewBk@reddit

Investing 5k in a new internet unknown would have been a massive risk.

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Thats_The_Chap@reddit

Yeah I know, and that’s how I reconcile it. But still…

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scottishnq@reddit (OP)

😭😭

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wonkyOnion@reddit

At some point possibility of paying in bitcoins started appearing on various websites. I completely didn't understand back then what it is, but because it was something new that 'normal/known' online shops were using I was thinking of buying one for about £400 at the time. I didn't. I decided that it's probably some sort of scam and £400 was significant amount for me at the time and I completely lost interest about it. Next time I heard about bitcoin was the boom when it cost just short from £40k. My 'what if' is obviously about me buying it for £400, but the twist is, that knowing my character I would completely forget about. I most likely wouldn't spend it. I would always think it's better keep it for something when I won't have money (without even knowing that it can grow or decrease in value) and next time I would remind myself about having it right when all of the internet was talking about it's boom in price.

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RaceFan1027@reddit

I did wonder what would happen if I’d gone to the local, posh girls grammar school but to be honest I wouldn’t have done any better academically and probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it.

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kittysparkled@reddit

I actually have two First: 1996. Second year university. I had the choice between two guys I knew liked me, both on the same course. I got together with one of them, which led to an abusive relationship that fucked me up mentally for years afterwards and still affects me today. I often what if about the other guy, who I'm still casual friends with. Second: if I hadn't listened to a friend of mine, who is a doctor) 10 years ago and not gone to hospital, I would very likely have died that night from a brain bleed. I like to think I made the correct choice on that one.

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JayR_97@reddit

When I was in year 11 I nearly got hit by a van that didn't stop while I was crossing the road. Missed me by inches, if it hit me that probably would have been lights out for

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Zerocoolx1@reddit

I was picking up a GF who worked in a bookies in Dartmouth when a guy walking in and out a £15k bet on one horse to win. He was rather well off and had just parked his yacht up. He knew something others didn’t and although I’m not a gambler I wish I’d put £100 on that horse because he came back later and walked off with a massive amount of winnings!

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gegorb@reddit

I would have accepted my Polish uncles offer to move to London with a view to inheriting the business when he died. I said no thanks and he traced his Polish nephew. Guess whose a millionaire now. Not me.

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scottishnq@reddit (OP)

That is a whopper 😭

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gegorb@reddit

I console my self with Kismet. It wasn’t meant to be 🥲

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Ok_Parking7650@reddit

Had the chance - with a group of others - to invest in Instagram very early on, but decided not to risk it as I could spare the couple of hundred quid at the time. Once had a piece of falling masonry land about a metre away from me while walking home from work one day. If i was one step further on, so took exactly the same journey but, I don’t know, not paused briefly to adjust my iPod volume or something, it would have been good night from me.

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scottishnq@reddit (OP)

Damn. That shows that these “what if” scenarios could go either way — both positively and negatively life changing.

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Goldman250@reddit

It’s either not going to Uni (because I didn’t much enjoy my course and don’t work in a job where I use my degree), or moving back home after graduating. Instead I went to Uni, graduated, and I’ve stuck around the same city for 7 years after graduating. I wonder, if I hadn’t gone to Uni, I might have ended up with the girl I’d been on and off with during sixth form - in which case, I’d probably be a dad by now, since she’s had three kids since then.

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beevyhoots@reddit

What if i didn't fail my gsces, drop out of school and become a shut in for almost ten years due to severe anxiety and depression...

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Stinky_Socks69420@reddit

‘What if I never existed?’

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dyinginsect@reddit

I did my first degree (BA Psychology), moved back in with my mum and dad for a bit, waited tables, got a place to do mental health nursing in Manchester starting in the January. I had life plans of the 'get qualified, travel the world, do not settle down until decrepit' kind. In the December I went on a date with my now husband, my start date for the nursing course came and went, I moved in with him, we got engaged... 20 something years and 3 kids later, here we are.

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Lybertyne2@reddit

Year 7 open evening at school, 1996. Some of us would help out, including myself and a girl I heavily fancied. I was a shy boy at school, but she seemed to have time for me, praising me when the teacher did and sticking up for me when some kid suggested I needed a haircut. It was the end of the evening and we were chatting just before heading home. She was saying how nice I was and how I wasn't like the other boys. It was the sort of moment you could imagine a kiss happening. Then her rowdy mate bowls up and shouts *Come on Roz, are we going?* I still wonder 'what if'.

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AdAdministrative3606@reddit

"What if I'd not been lazy and got the bus?" Didn't fancy the 10-minute walk home at 17, got the bus, got invited to a party by someone I'd never met, met my girlfriend at the time at said party, she got me a job, met my future wife at said job a couple of years later, *whoosh* 25 years later and I'm in a great job I never even would have considered without her.

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holytriplem@reddit

Haven't you seen Sliding Doors? >! The same thing would have happened eventually, your life would just have taken a different route to get there <!

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AdAdministrative3606@reddit

I'm not sure how comfortable I would have been at 40 going to a party full of 17-year-olds.

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811545b2-4ff7-4041@reddit

I invited a uni flatmate to a small house party where he then met his future wife. I had to really persuade him to go with too. My big what-if/sliding door was probably my first job - I was very close to getting a job in York, but I'd prioritised the interview prep for a job in Cardiff. Got the job in Cardiff.. which then led to a move to London - what if I'd just gone for the job in York instead (I was their second choice with little-to-no prep) ?

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BigRedTone@reddit

My landlord threatened to sell my flat in 2006. My (then) gf had the deposit in inheritance and we agreed if he was serious we’d buy it 50/50 cos we liked it and didn’t want to move. He ended up not bothering and that, dear reader, is the story of how I didn’t buy a zone one London flat for £160,000. I still walk passed it all the time, it’s near my office in Shoreditch. Pub conversion with 14ft ceilings and a garden. Easy £3/4m.

What’s your biggest “what if” moment?

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30 Comments

Reasonable-Fail-1921@reddit

Available-Emu1739@reddit

BECKYISHERE@reddit

wonkyOnion@reddit

Thats_The_Chap@reddit

wonkyOnion@reddit

DrewBk@reddit

Thats_The_Chap@reddit

scottishnq@reddit (OP)

wonkyOnion@reddit

RaceFan1027@reddit

kittysparkled@reddit

JayR_97@reddit

Zerocoolx1@reddit

gegorb@reddit

scottishnq@reddit (OP)

gegorb@reddit

Ok_Parking7650@reddit

scottishnq@reddit (OP)

Goldman250@reddit

beevyhoots@reddit

Stinky_Socks69420@reddit

dyinginsect@reddit

Lybertyne2@reddit

AdAdministrative3606@reddit

holytriplem@reddit

AdAdministrative3606@reddit

811545b2-4ff7-4041@reddit

BigRedTone@reddit

scottishnq@reddit (OP)