Superposition

Have you ever wondered where you might be today had you chosen differently? It’s impossible to know. All we truly have is this moment—and the choices we make within it. And yet, in this moment, you are shaping what comes next.

In quantum physics, the principle of superposition proposes that a particle can exist in multiple potential states at once—until it is measured. Only then does the uncertainty resolve into a single outcome. From this idea came Schrödinger’s cat, a thought experiment devised by physicist Erwin Schrödinger to illustrate the strangeness of quantum theory.

In the experiment, a cat is placed inside a sealed box containing a radioactive atom, a Geiger counter, and a vial of poison. If the atom decays, the poison is released and the cat dies. If the atom does not decay, the cat lives. Because radioactive decay is governed by quantum probability, the atom is—at least theoretically—in a superposition of decayed and not decayed until observed. By extension, the cat is considered both alive and dead until someone opens the box.

The point was not cruelty, but paradox: at the quantum level, probability and observation appear to shape reality. The act of measurement collapses possibility into fact. To simplify the metaphor, imagine instead that a sadist places a cat in the box and arranges its fate—heads the cat dies, tails it lives. The coin is flipped, but you are not told the result. Until you open the box, you do not know the outcome. In that suspended moment, two potential realities exist.

As a metaphor, this illustrates something essential about our lives. Every decision holds multiple potential futures. When we choose, we close off certain paths and step into our lived reality. Sometimes we feel our options are limited, constrained by fear, habit, or circumstance. Yet often there are alternatives—paths that require a different way of thinking. When we take ownership of our agency, we create new possibilities that would not have existed otherwise.

Here is where the metaphor becomes more human. You may believe your only role is to open the box and witness what has already been decided. You might feel your choices are limited—perhaps too limited to intervene. Confronting the sadist feels dangerous, uncomfortable, and anxiety-provoking. So you comply. The box is opened. The cat is dead. You tell yourself you had no real choice.

Yet there was a third possibility: refusing to participate at all. Standing up to the sadist. Preventing the cat from ever entering the box. That path may have required courage, conflict, and vulnerability—but it was a path nonetheless. By choosing it, you would not merely observe one of two realities; you would create an entirely new one. In this third reality, you now own a cat which improves your mental health.

Often in life, we perceive only binary options—stay or leave, speak or be silent, endure or escape, be negative or stay positive. We forget that there may be a third alternative, one that demands us to make a different choice. When we fail to choose it, we are still choosing. Inaction is a decision in itself.

From these concepts came the multiverse theory. Theories like the multiverse imagine infinite realities unfolding from infinite choices. While speculative in physics, the metaphor is powerful: each decision is a doorway to a new world. The “world” you inhabit tomorrow is shaped by how you respond today.

If there are infinite realities, don't you want to be living the one where you are happiest, most confident, and successful? Happiness, confidence, and success are entirely subjective; measured by lived experience. In order to have a lived experience we must observe our lives, assess the now in contrast with our past, and compare ourselves to the rest of humanity.

In doing so, many people unknowingly view themselves through a lens colored by grief, jealousy, fear, or despair. That lens shapes perception negatively, which in turn influences behavior—and ultimately outcomes. When we consistently interpret the world negatively, we reinforce a reality that feels equally bleak.

Therapy offers an opportunity to examine that lens. It is not about denying hardship or pretending life is always fair. Rather, it is about recognizing how you are interpreting your experience and deciding whether that perspective serves you. Shifting toward a positive lens of hope, gratitude, and self-compassion can open possibilities that once felt invisible. While choices will always have limits, a constructive mindset broadens the options you are able to see—and the doors you are willing to walk through.

Another well-known physics experiment, the double-slit experiment, further deepens this metaphor. When particles are unobserved, they behave like waves, producing an interference pattern. When observed, their behavior changes, collapsing into a more predictable pattern of two slits. The mere act of measuring—or observing—appears to influence the outcome.

Whether or not we extend this to reality, the symbolism is striking: observation matters. How you “observe” your own circumstances—how you frame them, interpret them, and respond to them—profoundly shapes your life. You may not control every event, but you can influence how you meet it.

In that sense, you are not powerless. You are an active participant in the unfolding of your reality. By becoming more intentional about your choices and more aware of the lens through which you view them, you begin to shape a reality aligned not with fear, but with clarity and purpose.