Roll with it.

It has, it did, I dumped the asshat, never been happier!

there is no what if, and that's too general to answer. all sorts of thing don't turn out as well as expected. some are important and some are not. some can be shrugged off with an "oh well" and others require immediate and drastic action. there is no one answer suitable for all such situations. so i will make the situation specific: what if you saw a profile of someone who said she was an antitheist and a believer, believing in buddha and jesus, and ended her bio on a site for agnostics and atheists by saying "god bless"? what if?

g

Look at it as an experience instead of a disappointment or failure. Kind of a 'well, would you look at that'. kind of attitude. Or find it really funny. Both viable options.
Unless the outcome was straight up devastating, then it's all about life triage. Research, form plan, execute plan, tweak plan.

Happens all the time--so what do you mean by "what if?"

Things always explode in my face. It takes a sense of humour to survive life.

I learned it doesn't matter what I expect, shit's bound to happen. So, I just totally gave up on expecting anything and go with the flow. It's generally less stressful.

Keep my expectations of others low.