If only

“If only…”

Two small words, yet some of the heaviest we can carry.

They often come wrapped in regret, shame, or longing:

• If only I had done things differently…

• If only I were stronger, braver, smarter…

• If only they had stayed…

These words can trap us in an alternate version of the past—a place that doesn’t exist—where we rewrite our story with perfect hindsight and punish ourselves for not knowing then what we know now.

But here’s the truth:

You only ever acted with the awareness and capacity you had in that moment.

You did the best you could.

Even if, from today’s distance, it feels like it wasn’t enough.

The turning point comes when we shift the question from “If only…” to “What now?”

Because what now is where healing lives.

What now is where your power returns.

💛 Pause. Breathe. Begin again.