Weekly Prompt: Hindsight

I am once again participating in Sometimes Sweet’s weekly journal prompts, and this week the prompt is:

They say hindsight is 20/20, and with good reason- looking back at something always gives us a better view. We’re often able to really see how our choices and decisions then shaped our today, and examine what we would have done differently given the chance. When looking back though, we often look way back, but for this exercise stay a little closer to present time and look back just 12 months. If you could go back just one year, what would you tell yourself? What advice would you offer about everything you’ve experienced?

Without a doubt, hindsight is 20/20, and I know looking back there are plenty of things that I would do differently, but as I’ve grown older, I’ve tried to not focus so much on what would have happened if I would have made a different decision. Everything that has happened has made me who I am today, including both good and bad decisions, and it sends my head into dizzying circles thinking about what would be different if I hadn’t done one thing or another.

That being said, I think there is one big thing this past year that I might have done differently, and if I could go back, I would probably tell myself one thing… Wait. While we had talked for a while about moving from our much smaller townhome and it wasn’t really a last minute plan, I think we should have waited on buying our current house. We had looked into moving out of state entirely, but that plan wasn’t lining up, so instead we bought a larger more local house. We had another baby on the way and were slightly concerned about space, plus we kept hearing that it was a “Seller’s Market,” so we made a decision to stay in Minnesota for a while longer. This winter has made us rethink that choice. We knew that we’d have to deal with winter, but so far we’ve had over 50 days of sub-zero temperatures and we’re kind of done with it.

If we had held out in our townhome, we would have more in savings and would probably be able to explore other places before finally choosing our next , more permanent destination. With a bigger home like we have now, we have a bigger mortgage and higher utility bills, so we aren’t able to put as much into savings as we’d like. Granted, we also spend more money on frivolous things then we need to. I may or may not have a minor shopping problem and love spending money on our kids. So sue me.

12

However, that being said, with how bad this winter has been, I can’t imagine still being in our much smaller townhome. We would have had to fit two cribs in one really small room, or more than likely not have gotten a crib for Phoebe at all and kept her in our room all the time (which we kind of do now anyway, come to think of it). We also wouldn’t have had nearly as much room for Enzo to run around in, and he is extremely active. Our current house allows us to all spread out and not feel cramped and is therefore much better for gatherings because parents don’t have to trip on kids and vice versa. Another nice thing this past winter has been the shorter drive. In our old house, the road I took was often paved last and there were numerous times I was almost stuck, and then actually stuck on our own street, which I don’t miss at all.

So, there’s that. I’m both happy we have our current house, but also feel a little trapped because we’re not sure we can be Midwesterners for the original 3-5 years we had planned when we moved in 2013. Oh, hindsight. Oh well. Now we just need a new plan. You make the best of what you have (and really, what we have is pretty dang good), so we’re going to have an amazing Spring/Summer and make our house and stay in Minnesota as enjoyable as we possibly can.

One thought on “Weekly Prompt: Hindsight

  1. Joanne

    Hindsight really is 20/20 but I’m glad to hear you’re not really focusing on the past too much and looking forward to the future instead! I think, in the end, that’s really the only thing to do.

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