If I hadn't

Is a useless statement. You did. Let's look at consequence not merely as a tool for correct choice, but as an actual surety of happenings. We still seem to think that there is some little loophole somewhere, some chance that things will miraculously change at the last minute--and they might--but such a chance is nothing worth gambling on. Go out and live with your best decisions. Make the choices that really matter. Be sure, and if something changes, be sure that it did. The variables are many, but unknown. Let them slip aside for a brief moment.