The big idea: could you have made different choices in life?

We can't change what's happened - but we can learn to make better decisions in the future

Now is the time when we look back over the past year and wonder: how did I do? Did I make the right decisions? Could I have made better ones?

Well, could you? A determinist who believes that the world unfolds in an inexorably preordained manner would say not. If, on the other hand, you believe in free will, you might feel sure that other decisions were available to you, other paths not taken. I could have done otherwise" is sometimes taken as the very definition of free will.