Something that helps me cope with periods of malaise, pain, or discomfort is reminding myself that the me I am today is not the final me.

This is just a version of myself, iterated from previous versions of myself, and every aspect of my being—my life, my career, my relationships, all of it—are prone to revision. That’s how I got to where I am now, and that will continue to happen in the future.

Even as we work toward goals that would change a whole lot about our lives, we tend to imagine ...