A lifetime is not forever...

»Footfalls echo in the memory, down the passage we did not take, towards the door we never opened, into the rose garden.« (T.S. Eliot)

Life... opportunities, possibilities, moments... so many of them we fail to recognize or acknowledge in time, blind for the precious chances they might hold, the changes they could bring.
Maybe it's indifference, maybe ignorance or fear causing us to waste them. Maybe we simply don't care, maybe we think we're not ready, maybe we believe we have time, telling ourselves we'll wait for a better moment, another opportunity... unaware of the fact that this very moment, this chance for growth or change, may never come around again, disappearing like a cloud that takes shape and dissolves from one minute to the next... gone.
We cling to the old, the familiar, to the seemingly safe harbour of the known, to the tried and tested. Sometimes we're so busy living a life that has outlived itself that we do not even realize there is one we might live instead, a life more in tune with who we are at this very moment, somewhere beyond or beneath the fixed ideas we have of ourselves.
But a lifetime isn't forever. Maybe one day we'll find that the things that happened - the people and situations we allowed into our lives - weren't necessarily the things that mattered the most to us, served us the most or touched us the most. Sometimes the things that did NOT happen, the chances we missed, turn out to matter more than the actual events that took place - and yet we cannot turn back time. So depending on how long we wait until we allow ourselves that closer, more honest look, it may be too late to find out "what if...?"
Life is all about taking chances. Some work in our favour, other's don't. There's no knowing in advance how a decision will influence our lives in the long run. We'll never know until we go for it. It's the risk we have to take if we want to live life to the fullest and not end up with a bag full of potential regret one future day. If an opportunity happens to find us, we shouldn't hide from it – a better one may never come. And if it turns out to be a mistake, well... life is all about making mistakes, there's nothing wrong with that, in the long run they're all lessons learned, right?
Much better to make a mistake and know for sure than to shy away from it and die wondering...