The Joy of New Possibilities: You Can Be Excited About the Unknown

The spring sunshine feels wonderful as my friend and I settle into an outside table at one of our favourite cafés in Mundaring, Western Australia.

The air is fresh, and the warmth of the sun makes sitting outside particularly inviting. Around us, people are enjoying their coffee, conversations drift between tables and the familiar sounds of a busy café create a comfortable atmosphere.

We both love coming here. The coffee is good, there are gluten-free options, and we know we can settle in for a proper catch-up without feeling rushed.

Today, we have a few hours.

My dad's support worker is with him, which means I can relax into the conversation knowing he is being cared for. I am back in Western Australia, spending time with family and friends while helping care for Dad, and moments like these have become particularly valuable.

As we talk, the conversation turns towards my husband's new opportunity and what it might mean for where we live.

For some time, I have been thinking that I would prefer to stay in Cairns. I love the warmth, the tropical surroundings and the lifestyle we have created there. The thought of moving somewhere with a cooler climate hasn't exactly filled me with enthusiasm.

Yet this opportunity has opened questions about what comes next, and I have been considering what those changes could mean for me and my business.

Then my friend challenges me.

“Why do you need to move?”

I explain my reasons.

“Why do you think you need to redesign your business again?”

I explain that, too.

She is asking questions about possibilities I have been considering, and I want her to understand my thinking. We have known each other long enough to have conversations where we don't necessarily see everything the same way, and I value being able to talk openly about what is happening.

As our conversation continues, I begin talking about something that has started to interest me.

The possibility of living somewhere I have never lived before.

What would it be like to discover a completely different region? Where could we travel on weekends? What towns might we visit, what landscapes could we explore and what experiences might become part of our everyday lives?

I imagine discovering places I have never been, travelling through unfamiliar countryside and taking opportunities to explore parts of Australia that haven't previously been within easy reach.

The possibilities begin to grow as I talk about them.

Suddenly, the cooler weather doesn't seem quite so important.

I still love the warmth of Cairns. I still appreciate the beauty of the place we call home, and I know there are things I would miss if we moved.

Yet I am beginning to see something beyond what I might leave behind.

There could be an entirely different part of Australia to explore, new experiences to enjoy and opportunities we haven't yet imagined.

Then I notice something.

I am excited.

Genuinely excited.

I am not trying to convince myself that moving would be a good idea or pretending that the practical considerations have disappeared. There are still decisions to make, and we don't yet know exactly what this opportunity will mean.

I am simply enjoying imagining what might be possible.

That catches my attention because it is quite different from the way I was thinking when this journey began.

Only recently, I had been considering the parts of my life that no longer felt quite right. I was noticing what felt heavy, what had changed and what I thought I wanted to be different.

Now I am sitting in the spring sunshine, talking with a friend and discovering that I am genuinely looking forward to possibilities I hadn't previously considered.

The future hasn't become more certain.

It's become more interesting.

And that feels wonderful.

When you allow yourself to explore what could be possible, a new beginning can become something to look forward to.

Give Your Decision Room to Settle

Making a decision does not always mean we immediately feel excited about it.

Sometimes the first feeling is relief. We have finally chosen a direction after spending weeks or months considering what to do. We know there are still things to work through, people to talk to and practical arrangements to consider, but at least we are no longer standing in quite the same place.

Then something interesting can happen.

We begin getting used to the idea.

A future that once felt unfamiliar gradually becomes something we can imagine experiencing. We start talking about it, noticing opportunities and considering aspects of the change that hadn't previously captured our attention.

The decision hasn't necessarily changed.

Our understanding of what it could mean for us is developing.

I think we sometimes move too quickly from making a decision to working out everything required to make it happen. We begin organising, researching and planning, concentrating on what needs to be done before giving ourselves much opportunity to enjoy what we have chosen.

Those practical considerations matter. They help us prepare, recognise potential challenges and understand what a change might require of us and the people around us.

Yet there is another part of the experience worth allowing.

What might I enjoy about this?

What could I discover?

What am I beginning to look forward to?

We may not have considered those questions while we were occupied with deciding whether to make the change at all.

Perhaps you have decided to return to study after years in the workforce. You have researched courses, considered your responsibilities and worked out how further education might fit into your life.

Once the decision is made, your attention immediately turns towards timetables, assignments, finances and everything you need to organise.

It is easy for the excitement of learning something new to become another list of things you need to manage.

Yet somewhere underneath those responsibilities is the reason you wanted to study in the first place.

Perhaps there is a subject you have always wanted to understand, a capability you would love to develop or an opportunity you can imagine becoming possible once you have learned something new.

As you begin exploring those possibilities, your relationship with the decision may change.

Returning to study is no longer simply something you have committed to doing.

It is becoming an experience you want to have.

The practical requirements remain, yet there is now something enjoyable to look forward to alongside them.

We can spend so much time concentrating on how to make a change work that we forget to enjoy imagining what could make the change worthwhile.

Giving a decision room to settle allows us to become acquainted with the possibilities it creates. We can talk about it, explore different aspects of the experience and notice what begins to interest us.

That does not require us to ignore important questions or dismiss information that might influence the decision. It allows us to consider more than the difficulties involved.

Sometimes the things we begin looking forward to are not the things that first attracted us to the opportunity.

We may discover something through a conversation, recognise an aspect we hadn't considered or become curious about an experience that initially seemed unimportant.

One idea leads to another.

An unfamiliar future begins to take shape.

And somewhere along the way, we may find ourselves smiling at the thought of what could come next.

Sometimes a decision needs room to become something we look forward to, rather than another problem we need to solve.

Allow the Possibilities to Expand

There is something remarkable about our ability to imagine experiences we haven't yet had.

We can picture ourselves somewhere different, think about people we might meet and consider what it would feel like to experience something that currently exists only as a possibility.

Sometimes those images create concern. We picture things going wrong, worry about unfamiliar situations or wonder whether we will be capable of managing what happens next.

Other times, we begin imagining experiences we would genuinely enjoy.

The circumstances haven't necessarily changed.

We are exploring different possibilities within them.

Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson's research on positive emotions offers an interesting explanation for why this matters.

Her broaden-and-build theory proposes that emotions such as joy and interest can broaden the range of thoughts and actions we consider. When we experience uplifting emotions, we may become more curious, more willing to explore and more open to opportunities we hadn't previously recognised.

That helps explain why one interesting possibility can lead towards another.

Imagine planning a holiday somewhere you have never visited.

Initially, your attention may be occupied with flights, accommodation, transport and how much everything will cost. You are comparing options, researching arrangements and working through what needs to happen before you leave.

Then you begin looking at photographs of the region.

You discover a beautiful walking trail, an interesting town or somewhere you would love to spend an afternoon. Perhaps someone tells you about a place they visited, and you become curious enough to look it up.

Before long, you are imagining yourself there.

You can picture the surroundings, the experiences you might enjoy and the places you would love to explore.

Perhaps you can almost feel the warmth of the sun or hear the sounds of a place you have never visited.

You begin to feel excited.

The holiday hasn't happened. There may still be arrangements to organise, and you have no way of knowing exactly how the experience will unfold.

Yet you are already enjoying the thought of what might be possible.

The experience has become something you are looking forward to, rather than simply something you need to organise.

In a systematic review and meta-analysis published in 2020, psychologist Torben Schubert and his colleagues examined how imagining personal future experiences influences our emotions.

Their review of 63 experimental studies, involving more than 6,800 participants, found that imagining future experiences can meaningfully influence how we feel in the present, with positive future imagery generally increasing positive feelings.

We don't have to experience something before we can begin feeling excited about the possibility of it.

I find that particularly relevant when we are beginning again.

As something becomes interesting, we may explore further. That exploration introduces information and experiences we hadn't previously considered, which may create even more curiosity.

One possibility opens the door to another.

We begin seeing opportunities that were less obvious when our attention was occupied by everything that might be difficult.

Of course, imagining something wonderful doesn't guarantee that it will happen or that the experience will unfold exactly as we expect. The value lies in discovering what genuinely appeals to us while remaining willing to consider the reality of the opportunity.

Sometimes that exploration reveals possibilities we could never have recognised by concentrating only on the problems we were trying to solve.

The future hasn't necessarily changed. What we are able to imagine about it has expanded.

Let Excitement Develop Naturally

I wonder how often we believe we should feel motivated before we begin something new.

We wait for enthusiasm, confidence or a sense of readiness, expecting those feelings to provide the energy we need to move forward. When they don't arrive, we may question whether we really want the change or whether we have what it takes to make it happen.

Yet excitement doesn't always arrive at the beginning of a decision.

Sometimes it develops as we become more familiar with what the decision might make possible.

We might have a conversation that helps us see an opportunity differently, learn something that captures our curiosity or discover an experience we hadn't previously imagined.

What began as a practical consideration gradually becomes something personally meaningful.

As the possibilities become clearer, we may begin developing greater confidence in the direction we are considering.

We understand more about what we want, why it matters and the experiences we hope to create. We may also begin recognising capabilities we already have that could help us navigate unfamiliar situations, even while knowing there will be things we need to learn.

That growing understanding can make a new direction feel more approachable.

We aren't necessarily becoming certain about the outcome.

We are becoming clearer about why the experience appeals to us.

There is another part of this that I think we sometimes overlook.

Excitement and uncertainty can exist together.

We can look forward to something new while wondering how we will manage the unfamiliar parts of it. We can feel hopeful about a different direction and still appreciate everything we may leave behind.

Imagine someone preparing to leave a workplace after many years.

They may be excited about a new opportunity that offers interesting challenges, different responsibilities and the chance to develop capabilities they have wanted to explore.

Yet as their final weeks approach, they begin thinking about the colleagues they will miss, the routines that have become familiar and the experiences that have shaped them during their time there.

They may feel sad about leaving.

That sadness doesn't necessarily mean the new opportunity is wrong. It may simply reflect how much the previous experience has meant to them.

We can value something deeply without needing it to remain unchanged forever.

The same can happen when children grow up and become more independent, relationships enter different stages or families consider moving to unfamiliar places.

We can appreciate what we have while remaining curious about what might come next.

I think we sometimes make uncertainty more difficult by expecting it to disappear before we allow ourselves to feel excited.

We imagine that the right decision should feel completely comfortable, or that if we were genuinely ready, we would know what to expect.

Yet some questions can only be answered through experience.

We might wonder whether we will enjoy a different climate, how we will feel starting a new career or whether we will build meaningful relationships in an unfamiliar community.

We can research, prepare and consider our choices carefully, but we cannot know everything before we experience it.

That is part of exploring something new.

There will still be moments when motivation is low, circumstances are difficult or the effort required feels greater than we expected. Meaningful change involves more than excitement, and developing the ability to continue through those experiences is something we will explore more deeply later.

For now, I think it is worth recognising that we don't always need to force ourselves to feel enthusiastic before we begin exploring an opportunity.

Sometimes discovering what we might love about the experience is what creates the enthusiasm.

Even while uncertainty remains, we can allow ourselves to enjoy looking forward.

You don't have to know what the future holds to feel excited about what it might bring.

Begin From Here

When this writing journey began, I was waking in the darkness at 4:28 a.m., questioning parts of my life that no longer felt quite right.

In Beginning Again Is Not Failure, I shared how recognising what I no longer wanted eventually led me towards a different question.

What would I like to create instead?

Now I find myself sitting in the spring sunshine, imagining experiences I have never had and places I might one day explore.

There are still decisions to make, and I have no idea exactly how everything will unfold.

Yet I am beginning to look forward to finding out.

Perhaps you have something in your life that you are beginning, changing or considering for your future.

It may be a decision you have already made, an opportunity you are exploring or simply an idea that has begun capturing your attention.

Give yourself a little room to imagine what might be enjoyable about it.

You could talk about it with someone you trust, learn more about something that interests you or spend time imagining an experience you would genuinely love to have.

What would you enjoy discovering?

What might you look forward to learning, experiencing or creating?

What could become possible that you haven't yet allowed yourself to imagine?

There is no need to ignore practical considerations or pretend that every part of the journey will be easy. Some choices require careful planning, important conversations and support from the people involved.

You can make room for those responsibilities while also allowing yourself to enjoy the possibilities.

Perhaps a conversation will introduce an idea you hadn't considered. You may discover an opportunity that feels personally meaningful or recognise that something you originally found unappealing could offer experiences you would genuinely enjoy.

The future doesn't have to be completely planned before you can begin looking forward to it.

You can appreciate what you have, recognise everything you have learned and remain open to discovering what else might be possible.

When you allow yourself to explore what could be possible, a new beginning can become something to look forward to.

You can begin again.