What if I could travel back in time, turn back the clock, ask for a ‘take two,’ on things that shouldn’t have happened?

Would I make different decisions, come to unexpected realisations? Of course. I would steer my life down very different paths. I’d never have stopped dancing for starters. I’d have chosen a university closer to home, not left my friends and high school sweetheart so far away, been less malleable… The trajectory of my life would have been very different.

If I had the chance to re-do my first year at university, I would make better choices. I’d realise that studying for my Journalism 1 exam was infinitely more important than accepting a last minute invitation to a ball. I would ignore the unsolicited advice that I really didn’t need to study anything for said exam. I would attend every single one of Andre Brink’s dawn patrol lectures, instead of sleeping in. I would avoid failures that could have so easily been corrected. I would…

… be living a completely different life. The paths I missed, could have led me forward to fame and fortune. Perhaps. But those choices would have cancelled out the ones I did make.  Yes, I should have made five year plans in my youth. I didn’t. My life was steered by ditzy, seat of the pants decisions. I landed up living in Cape Town because…never mind. That’s for another blog! My career happened by default. Any success has always taken me by surprise.

There were countless paths I should have, could have taken. But for every one I missed, there was another that I stumbled upon. And I’d be lying if I said they were not unusual and incredibly exciting.

Of course I have regrets. Who doesn’t? But I am also very grateful for the life I live and everyone in it. Being given a second chance has brought my blessings into sharp focus. I look to the future with wondrous expectation. These days I work at turning my dreams into goals – ones I have every intention of achieving. At the same time, I strive to live in the moment. And I realise that life offers us endless possibilities. It’s up to us to reach out and take them while we can.

I invite you to truly live each day, for it is the only one guaranteed.