--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When we lose that sense of the possible…" description: "\"“When we lose that sense of the possible we lose it fast.”\" — Joan Didion" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb3/joan-didion-497_quote_when-we-lose-that-sense-of-the-possible_1070127.jpg" --- # When we lose that sense of the possible we lose it fast. ![“When we lose that sense of the possible we lose it fast.” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb3/joan-didion-497_quote_when-we-lose-that-sense-of-the-possible_1070127.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb3/joan-didion-497_quote_when-we-lose-that-sense-of-the-possible_1070127.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb3/joan-didion-497_quote_when-we-lose-that-sense-of-the-possible_1070127.jpg) > ““When we lose that sense of the possible we lose it fast.”” [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Losing belief in possibilities leads quickly to stagnation and despair. **In simple terms:** Losing possibility hurts fast. Key Takeaway Stay open to new possibilities. Themes hope possibility resilience Mood thoughtful hopeful Type inspirational philosophical When to use this quote - career planning - relationships - creative projects - learning new skills Key Concepts existentialism optimism Questions to Reflect On - What possibilities are you ignoring? - How can you cultivate optimism? A Different Perspective Possible outcomes can be uncertain and risky. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet ## Related quotes > [“When we lose that sense of the possible we lose it fast. One day we are absorbed by dressing well, following the news, keeping…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/when-we-lose-that-sense-of-the-possible-we-lose-it-fast-one-day-we-2/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'd say Harvard graduates leave here with a sense of the possible and the limit - and a sense that there are no limits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/drew-gilpin-faust/i-d-say-harvard-graduates-leave-here-with-a-sense-of-the-possible-and/) [Drew Gilpin Faust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/drew-gilpin-faust/) > [It's really sad how one day I'll seem to have everything going right. Then the next day I'll lose everything so fast.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tumblr/it-s-really-sad-how-one-day-i-ll-seem-to-have-everything-going-right/) Tumblr > [“...by admitting a new perception of space and giving it an active sense, is it not possible to discover a new unexpected, unexplored world?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toru-takemitsu/by-admitting-a-new-perception-of-space-and-giving-it-an-active-sense/) [toru takemitsu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toru-takemitsu/) > [Art serves us best precisely at that point where it can shift our sense of what is possible, when we know more than we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/art-serves-us-best-precisely-at-that-point-where-it-can-shift-our/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [I did a 22 Days Nutrition program. That's something I know works. Also, do at least an hour of cardio. Eat six meals a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dj-khaled/i-did-a-22-days-nutrition-program-that-s-something-i-know-works-also/) [DJ Khaled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dj-khaled/) > [I am creative with both my limitations and my sense that everything is possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toyah-willcox/i-am-creative-with-both-my-limitations-and-my-sense-that-everything/) [Toyah Willcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toyah-willcox/) > [This is the strange thing about South Africa - for all its corruption and crime, it seems to offer a stimulating sense that anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-cartwright/this-is-the-strange-thing-about-south-africa-for-all-its-corruption/) [Justin Cartwright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-cartwright/) > [I like to change people's sense of what's possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-yong-kim/i-like-to-change-people-s-sense-of-what-s-possible/) [Jim Yong Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-yong-kim/) > [ \[To lose twenty pounds\] is not even about how much I lose and how fast, it's so much about being healthy. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dj-khaled/to-lose-twenty-pounds-is-not-even-about-how-much-i-lose-and-how-fast/) [DJ Khaled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dj-khaled/) > [Spiritual growth increases our sense of what's possible. And as we sense new possibility, we can step into that possibility. With every word, every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/spiritual-growth-increases-our-sense-of-what-s-possible-and-as-we/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [It's definitely important to have a vision, to have kind of a sense of what might be possible, but not to be dogmatic about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sal-khan/it-s-definitely-important-to-have-a-vision-to-have-kind-of-a-sense-of/) [Sal Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sal-khan/) > [You don't want to lose what you have - fast guy, quick guy - you don't want to lose that, but work around it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thon-maker/you-don-t-want-to-lose-what-you-have-fast-guy-quick-guy-you-don-t/) [Thon Maker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thon-maker/) > [I don't get mad anymore.. Nowadays I just lose interest fast and walk away faster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/i-don-t-get-mad-anymore-nowadays-i-just-lose-interest-fast-and-walk/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [Its really sad how one day Ill seem to have everything going right then the next day Ill lose everything so fast.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/babloo/its-really-sad-how-one-day-ill-seem-to-have-everything-going-right/) [Babloo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/babloo/) ## More by Joan Didion > [To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-shift-the-structure-of-a-sentence-alters-the-meaning-of-that/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accomplish-anything-every-day-but/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Style is character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/style-is-character/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/california-is-a-place-in-which-a-boom-mentality-and-a-sense-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I went because I was interested in the alchemy of issues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-went-because-i-was-interested-in-the-alchemy-of-issues/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/why-did-i-write-it-down-in-order-to-remember-of-course-but-exactly/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-no-longer-want-reminders-of-what-was-what-got-broken-what-got-lost/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving butter cookies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/my-mother-gave-teas-the-way-other-mothers-breathed-her-own-mother/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'm not very interested in people. I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-m-not-very-interested-in-people-i-recognize-it-in-myself-there-is-a/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a point when choice was any more than sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/was-there-ever-in-anyone-s-life-span-a-point-free-in-time-devoid-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Research to date has shown that, like many other stressors, grief frequently leads to changes in the endocrine, immune, autonomic nervous, and cardiovascular systems;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/research-to-date-has-shown-that-like-many-other-stressors-grief/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“By the end of the week she was thinking constantly about where her body stopped and the air began about the exact point in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/by-the-end-of-the-week-she-was-thinking-constantly-about-where-her/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I just can't see the upside in this," I heard myself say by way of explanation. Later he said that if John had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-can-t-see-the-upside-in-this-i-heard-myself-say-by-way-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [ I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. \[...\] I think biographies are very urgent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-through-whole-categories-i-was/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-those-of-us-who-remained-committed-mainly-to-the-exploration-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Explore all 515 Joan Didion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## More Sense quotes > [It's not writing in the traditional sense, but I've always said that the writing process continues on the set and even into the editing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-b-weide/it-s-not-writing-in-the-traditional-sense-but-i-ve-always-said-that/) [Robert B. 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Life doesn’t explain itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-meyer/everything-s-senseless-until-someone-makes-sense-of-it-life-doesn-t/) [Scott Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-meyer/) > [With all the technology we're inventing and what they're coming up with scientifically, people are having longer lifetimes. It's scary, but in the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brittany-murphy/with-all-the-technology-we-re-inventing-and-what-they-re-coming-up/) [Brittany Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brittany-murphy/) > [“In the worldly life, due to maadakta (intoxication of the ego of ‘I am Chandubhai’), one has completely lost awareness of everything about one’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/in-the-worldly-life-due-to-maadakta-intoxication-of-the-ego-of-i-am/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [When you screw with somebody's sense of ownership of something, that's when they react.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-murray/when-you-screw-with-somebody-s-sense-of-ownership-of-something-that-s/) [James Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-murray/) > [“Nothing you did made sense and nothing you’ll ever do.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-hogan/nothing-you-did-made-sense-and-nothing-you-ll-ever-do/) [Michael Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-hogan/) > [Moveon is not a one-way broadcast media. The Internet, when used best, is a two-way media. We have a forum in which people can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-blades/moveon-is-not-a-one-way-broadcast-media-the-internet-when-used-best/) [Joan Blades](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-blades/) > [Time travel offends our sense of cause and effect - but maybe the universe doesn't insist on cause and effect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-m-lerner/time-travel-offends-our-sense-of-cause-and-effect-but-maybe-the/) [Edward M. Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-m-lerner/) > [More compassionate mind, more sense of concern for other's well-being, is source of happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/more-compassionate-mind-more-sense-of-concern-for-other-s-well-being/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [The way I look at it is, cancer research is absolutely nonpartisan. 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