You could drop everything right now and go to Brazil to make your living in the fish markets of Rio and learn to play the bongo drums. You wouldn’t have to tell anyone you were leaving or have anything to do with your current life ever again. You can just begin to imagine the range of experiences that you might have over the rest of your life if you did such a thing. It is not likely that you will choose to do this, but you could. I sometimes encourage my clients to consider such possibilities when they mention the idea of suicide, however vaguely, or when they are depressed and hopeless. Pain and distress can be productive of change and it is a good idea to examine the broadest possible range of alternatives before committing to a new path. Crisis is opportunity, but be smart about it. Also remember that you don’t have to have a crisis in order to seize the day, although crises are often helpful.

     There is a mathematical construct called a light cone which, in physics, represents the range of positions in space that a photon can reach in a given period of time, starting from an arbitrary origin. It represents the range of things that can happen to a photon in the future given where it is right now. Physicists call this a world line, and your life is like that. You always find yourself at the origin and you always have a very broad range of future opportunities, whether you exploit them or not. You also have broad range of possible histories that might have brought you to your current origin and you may well be mistaken about some aspects of your own past.

     It sometimes feels like there are no options, but there always are. In fact, there are so many options that it is literally impossible even to imagine them all. If you are stuck, then that is a choice you are making and you can choose otherwise. If you are in distress, then this realization should make you feel better as soon as you see it.