the lives we never lived

i never really thought about how sand falls, slipping through our fingers
fading from our reach before it ever knows our touch,

but now i see time doing the same

moments fading away before we fully feel them.
lingering in what could come, drowning in what could’ve been,
we drown in old regrets, rewrite old conversations,
missing the now that’s already becoming a memory.

we ache for the time we didn’t use
while continuing to waste the time we have
trapped in a loop of wishing and waiting,
never quite stepping forward

the present keeps offering us a chance, and we keep pushing it off.

we all ache for what we’ve lost,
find ourselves dwelling on moments we’d rewrite if we could
the words left unsaid,
the paths we never chose,
the moments we watched pass being too afraid,
the could have been’s we still carry

aware that we are letting time pass on by but still do nothing.

our perception of time was never fixed.
how we perceive it stretches and folds
shaped by memory, anticipation, emotion.
we bend clocks in our minds.
a week can feel like a minute.
a minute can feel like a lifetime.

sometimes i wish time would go on without me knowing,
quietly fast forward me to a time in the future where everything i’m waiting for is already mine.

but i also want to stay right here,
to feel this version of life before it disappears too.
we say we’ve accepted it,
that time moves on and we’re meant to move with it.
but deep down, we all hold onto some version of what could’ve been.

maybe not because we expect to get it back,
but because some moments are too soft to forget,
and some dreams never stop echoing.
fantasies will forever find their way in, leaving you wishing

we dream in futures far too wide for the moment we’re in
build entire worlds in our heads
where everything we want is already ours.
and maybe that’s the most delicate part of it all,
how good it feels to imagine,
how real it can seem when no one’s looking.
like we’ve already lived it just by picturing it.

we hope, we plan, we wait,
but rarely do we move.
as if dreaming big is enough to make it real.

but timing is such a delicate balance
and the most intricate architecture of all
the slightest shift can place you in a life you never imagined,
a moment too soon or too late,
and suddenly everything’s different.
time feels like the tide that carries the butterfly effect
subtle, invisible, and absolutely irreversible.
everything and anything can change in a single breath,
which is terrifying, if you really think about it.

it makes you wonder
what could’ve been?
what if i had chosen differently?
what if i hadn’t been afraid?
and suddenly you're lost in the almosts,
even when we know that there will never truly be an answer to these questions.

you'll never truly know and that's the beauty of it.

regret might be the most human thought of all,
pointless maybe but impossible to let go
even when we know we can't change a thing.
we may not ever stop wondering what could have been,

but maybe the point isn't to let go of the questions.
maybe its just learning how to live without needing an answer.

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