"Too many people go directly from denial to dispair"

I heard this quote the other night in Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth".

And I thought about it.
No. That can't be right. People move to dispair when all options are exhausted right? When THEY are exhausted.
But, you know, I think he might be onto something, and not just from a political standpoint.
That depression, that overwhelming frustration. How often does it come before you ever even try? And often, that stopping point missed between: the effort to find a solution, can be the most invigorating and important part of the puzzle. Often there is a logical and reasonable solution that makes that final stop not just unnecessary, but irrational and emotionally expensive to engage in.
And you know, it's always harder to retrace your steps, harder to go back.

Key point here: sometimes you forget to even try.

I saw former Oregon Governor Kitzhaber speak a while ago about the process of changing legislation, about the process of finding new solutions. He commented "You find the goal, you define the goal, you define the process, you find the barrier, you eliminate the barrier, period" I loved that. You can't redistribute funding because they are regulations? You get a waiver. You remove the regulation. You can't produce reasonable produce because of corn and soy subsidies? You remove the subsidies. You change the subsidies. You can't provide reasonably priced healthcare because of pharmaceutical pricing and multilayered billing practices? Then you regulate it, or deregulate. You can't find the time for your kids because you work too much? Well, think about that. Just think about it. Because there might be more than one unreasonable roadblock there we all need to get in on.
It really really comes down to priorities. It comes down to believing in the ultimately fulfilling fruit of your labors. It comes down to wanting it. And when you want it, really want it. Well, you'll make it happen. You'll find point B and draw a line from point A, and it might mean removing roadblock C or skipping detour D or roadside attraction E, but you'll get there.

And you might even learn something on the way. Hell, you might even have fun.