Closed Options, Open futures | Nerd Fitness

I’m a big fan of Stephen King.

I have read the entire Dark Tower series, It, The Shining, Doctor Sleep, and my favorite movie was based on his book, Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption.

So, at the urging of several friends who told me it was their favorite book, I finished it onhe started reading 11/22/63on.

Here are some head-scratching ideas:

On November 22, 1963, three shots were fired in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed.

What if you change again?

Stephen King’s remarkable new novel is about the man who went back in time to prevent the assassination of JFK – a journey of a thousand pages.

Like any good scientist, I’ve put a lot of energy into imaginary time travel, butterfly behavior, and changing the past. I bet you have too.

Time travel is a very tempting idea because our brain can’t help but think about the “road less” and “what if I could have done X instead of Y?”

Which brings me to the topic of today’s post.

Admitting that some options are closed is very liberating.

Other Options Closed

My friend Tim Urban at onWaitButWhy.comon describe this picture of the life choices we have made to date, and the branching paths open to us tomorrow:

It’s easy for our brain to focus on all the dark lines in the past: the paths that were closed to us, the choices we didn’t make, the choices we made and how our life is “certain” right now.

“Because of how I did it in the past, it’s the way things are.”

“It’s a shame I never did XYZ, now it’s too late. I regret it so much!”

“I shouldn’t be happy because of the mistake I made”

We often forget that it is possible to connect the dots of our life looking back, how we made each decision with the best knowledge we had at the time.

(If you’re looking for a solid read, Matt Haig’s onThe Midnight Libraryon is an inspiring fictional story about alternative ways of life and acceptance. Haig comes from the past onan almost suicidal decisionon.)

So let’s talk a little bit about black lines and green opportunities.

Maybe the Alternatives are CLOSED!

I bring all these things together to make two points.

Author Chris Guillbeau, who inspired my love of travel and inspired my Nerd Fitness, wrote an article recently oncelebrating behind closed doorson.

We’ve all heard stories of people who start other careers later.

An example would be, “It’s not too late! Samuel L. Jackson didn’t get his breakthrough role in “Pulp Fiction” until he was 46.

And Chris points out that sometimes…it’s too late:

While these stories are encouraging, the lesson of “it’s never too late” isn’t the whole story. Sometimes it’s too late! To believe otherwise is to believe in fantasy.

Some things in life have a specific time – not all, but some.

In other words, sometimes we hold on to something we know we’ll do “someday,” and maybe we refuse to admit that…yeah, it’s too late.

Maybe we still hope to run a marathon…even though we hate running.

Maybe we still hope to write that cookbook…even if we don’t like to cook anymore.

Perhaps we can decide that several paths ARE closed to us. We can accept this.

The future is no longer set in stone

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how onThe past is not set in Stoneonbecause our perspective is changing.

It’s okay to admit that maybe the dreams we had in our 20s are better off dead.

However, it is also sad to think that it is “too late” to change our future, and it is already decided.

Betrand Russel once said “You don’t have to be who you were five minutes ago.”

As Chris says:

We are “not late” for many things, and that’s good. But sometimes it happens, and it’s not good.

It’s never too late to learn something new. It’s never too late to try new things.

But it may be too late for certain channels, and that’s fine.

In fact, it is good to celebrate.

Letting go of other options, or accepting that other options may be closed to us can clear the space for us to make another life choice moving forward.

You can choose today to:

• start powerlifting
• take an online class for a new job.
• try a new hobby.
• talk to your doctor about onweight loss helpon.

We cannot go back to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

Other ways of life are closed to us.

That could be good!

Instead of using too much thought and regretting our closed black paths, we can start choosing the green path to follow.

-Steve

PS: Need guidance and feedback to help you achieve your fitness goals? Nerd Fitness has helped 10,000+ people over the past 8 years with 1-on-1 online fitness training. onClick here for more informationon.