it would be less strain on the universe to just offshoot a timeline branch in another direction from when you changed things.
Pretty much.
So you dropped that vase, and you go back in time.
In the process, you have just bent the 4th dimension, time, by use the 5th dimension
Now say you want to get to the future where you didn't drop the vase, but sold it.
You bend the 5th dimension, the possibilities of your future, by using the 6th dimension.
Don't ask, I got lost at the 7th/8th