Maya Shankar says your constrained imagination blocks your next best life

When a long-held vision for your future—be it marriage, a specific career, or a health milestone—fails to materialize, the emotional weight feels like a slammed door. You aren't just losing a plan; you are grieving a version of yourself you expected to become. This state of "limbo" often triggers a crisis of identity, leaving you anchored to a past that no longer exists and a future that never arrived.

Three buckets of identity

Maya Shankar introduces a powerful framework called "Possible Selves" to explain this internal friction. We constantly generate three types of mental projections: hoped-for selves (our dreams and aspirations), feared selves (our anxieties about potential failure), and expected selves (the logical, most likely path forward). When life shifts unexpectedly, our expected and hoped-for selves vanish, often forcing us to confront the feared selves we never intended to meet.

Breaking the constraint of social norms

Our imagination is often more limited than we realize. We build our possible selves based on rigid social scripts, stereotypes, and past experiences. This "overly constrained imagination" prevents us from seeing viable paths because they don't look like the traditional milestones we were taught to value. When you find yourself in a sudden role—as a caregiver, a divorcee, or someone facing job loss—your initial fear stems from a lack of data on how to thrive in that new space.

Designing your next inflection point

To move forward, you must intentionally conjure more promising possible selves. This requires a mental reset. Instead of focusing on the closed door, ask what new traits or experiences this current reality allows you to develop. Resilience isn't about getting back to the original plan; it is the cognitive flexibility to imagine a future that is different—but perhaps even more meaningful—than the one you originally scripted. You have the power to reinvent your identity at any moment of inflection.