Closed Roads, Open Future | Nerd fitness

I'm a big Stephen King fan.

I've read the entire Dark Tower series, It, The Shining, Doctor Sleep, and my favorite movie is based on his novel; Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption.

So, at the behest of many friends who told me it was their favorite book, finally .He started reading 11/22/63..

This is where the head explodes:

In the year On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed.

What if you could change it back?

Stephen King's heart-wrenching new novel about a man who travels back in time to prevent JFK's assassination—the power of a thousand-page tour de force.

Like every good nerd, I devote a lot of mental energy to hypothetical time travel, the butterfly effect, and altering the past. I guess you have too.

Time travel is such an attractive idea because our minds think about “the road less traveled” and “what if I had done X instead of Y?”

Which brings me to today's newsletter topic.

Admitting that some roads are closed is incredibly freeing.

Some roads are closed.

My friend Tim Urban b .WaitButWhy.com. Draw this graph about the life choices we've made so far and the branching paths open tomorrow:

It's easy for our minds to focus on all the dark lines of our past.

“That's how I did it in the past.”

“It's a shame I didn't do XYZ, it's too late now. I'm so sorry!”

“I don't deserve to be happy about my mistake.”

We often forget that the points in our lives can be connected in retrospect where we made every decision based on the best information we had at the time.

(If you're looking for a solid read, Matt Haig's .Midnight library. It is an interesting novel about alternative life paths and acceptance. Hague draws from the past .He almost decided to end his own life..)

So let's talk a little about those black lines and green options.

Maybe some roads are closed!

I bring all these things to make two points.

Chris Guillbeau, the author who greatly inspired my love of travel and influenced how I built Nerd Fitness, recently posted an article about it. .Respect behind closed doors..

We've all heard stories of people starting some career in their lives.

An example would be: “It's never too late! Samuel L. Jackson didn't get his breakout role in “Pulp Fiction” until he was 46.

And Chris says sometimes… it's too late.

While these stories are encouraging, the lesson that “it's never too late” is not universal. Sometimes it's too late! To believe otherwise is to believe in an illusion.

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

In other words, sometimes we hold on to something we know we'll do “one day” and refuse to accept the fact that maybe…yeah, it's too late.

Maybe we'll keep hoping to run a marathon…even though we hate running.

Maybe we'll keep hoping to write that cookbook…even though we don't like to cook.

We may decide that a few roads are closed to us. We can accept this.

The future is also not set in stone.

A few weeks ago I wrote about how. .The past is not set in stone..Because our understanding of the story changes.

Maybe in our 20s it's okay to accept that our dreams are okay to die.

However, it is just as sad to think that it is “too late” to make any changes to our future and that it is already predetermined.

Betrand Russell once said, “You don't have to be who you were five minutes ago.”

According to Chris:

It's “not too late” for many things, and that's great. But sometimes it is, and that's okay.

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 ways, and that's perfectly fine.

In fact, it is worth celebrating.

Letting go of certain paths or accepting that certain paths may be closed to us can clear the space for making a different decision to move forward in life.

Later today you can decide to:

• Start power lifting
• Take an online class for a new job.
• Try a new hobby.
• Talk to your doctor .Weight loss aid..

We cannot go back to stop the Kennedy assassination.

Some ways of life are now closed to us.

That might be okay!

Instead of spending more mental energy regretting our closed black paths, we can work on deciding which green path to take next.

– Steve

PS: Need guidance and accountability to reach your fitness goals? Nerd Fitness has helped 10,000+ people with 1v1 online fitness coaching over the past 8 years. .Click here for more details..