so many things are possible, and how to increase what feels possible

#thought #observation

So much is possible. That's the first thing to realize. Anything you think is possible, is possible. And many things you think are impossible are possible.

How do things start to feel possible?

• to expand our options (opportunities), expand the people we interact with
• the effectiveness of habituation

Some things I thought were impossible impossible

For instance, some things I thought were impossible:

• Being comfortable raising my hand in class, without feeling like I'm about to die.
  • How: the effectiveness of habituation

Some things that I used to think were impossible that now feel possible:

• Becoming a singer songwriter, or at least performing at some open mics.
  • How: to expand our options (opportunities), expand the people we interact with
  • Now that I've seen a friend become a standup comic, I feel like, hmm... maybe it's actually not so horrible to perform in front of an audience and be judged.
  • There was also a habituation aspect to it, as I've auditioned for acapella, which helped in realizing that people don't actually hate you forever when you sing in front of them!
• Writing (stories)
  • How: to expand our options (opportunities), expand the people we interact with

References

Some questions

• There's a bit of a flaw to our opportunity set is limited by what we see others do: through media, we can see people doing the coolest and craziest of things. But somehow, oftentimes this makes it seem even more impossible.
  • Sure, there's standup comedians out there. But that's not really something I could do, they're special in some way.
    • What changed this view for me is seeing a friend do it.
  • [?] How do we distinguish between things we think others can do, vs being able to turn that into I can do it too?