Time Travel

If you could go back in time and change something would you? I've been asked this question many times about many different things. Although no one's ever asked me this question about my journey this past year, I have thought about it. When you are answering this question, you don't usually think about it for very long before answering and for most people the answer is yes, no matter what it is you are talking about. Sure in romantic movies we see someone saying they wouldn't want to change anything because it brought them to each other but in real life that's not usually the case. At the beginning of my journey when I first got tendonitis, I would have been very excited to go back and not pull those weeds had I been given the choice. However, now that I can step back and look at everything that's happened since last March, I'm not sure my answer would be the same. Sometimes what happens is best left happening. I'm not saying everything happens for a reason, I'm saying that there are usually good things that come from the bad things and sometimes it's worth going through the pain to get the reward at the end. For example, while in New Zealand getting therapy for my complex regional pain syndrome, the doctor who was head of my therapy team wanted to prescribe a medicine that can sometimes slow down your heart. To make sure this was safe for me he sent me to have an ECG taken of my heart. For most people, the medicine slowing down your heart would be fine but for some people who have a slower heart already, it can be dangerous. When he first checked the ECG he said I was fine but he called us back the next day and told me to stop taking the meds and to schedule a cardiologist appointment just to check that I was fine. It was during this appointment that they found out that my aorta is severely enlarged. While this is obviously not a good thing, knowing about it is. Many people die from this unknowingly. Because your aorta is your main artery, when it pops you die extremely fast, so if you don't know that you have an enlarged aorta you don't know to be careful or to have surgery. Since there isn't any symptoms it often isn't discovered. Fortunately for me, the problems in my shoulder eventually lead them to finding it. This means when my aorta grows to an unsafe level, I will be able to get surgery and have it fixed. Them finding my enlarged aorta means I can be aware of what's going on in my body and stay in control about it. So while having my shoulder pain was horrible, I wouldn't go back and change what happened. And maybe next time someone asks me whether or not I would go back and change something I'll say no. It might not mean anything yet but you never know what will happen in the future so you might as well start changing your mindset now. Next time someone asks you that, think about the good things that have happened since the time in question. Would they have happened if that time had been changed? Are they worth all the bad things? Maybe you'll find that your answer will change.