I personally find that brainstorming every option available to me, without regard to whether I'd actually exercise that option, makes me better able to tolerate the option I eventually choose. But I need to put *every* option on the table - I could get up from my desk, get in my car, go down to the bank and clear out whatever money's there, and start life over somewhere else, unencumbered by family or responsibilities, for instance. That I don't, means that that I freely choose to remain encumbered, not that I'm trapped by the encumbrances. And an encumbrance you choose is a lot easier to tolerate than a trap, you know?
Reminds me of an ongoing conversation I had with a superior in the Navy. This guy had a bad habit of telling me what I "had to" do, so I'd ask him "What happens if I don't?" I was mostly doing it to needle him a little, but finally one day he challenged me on it, and after an impromptu debate, he never told me what I "had to" do again. Once he realized that ignoring his bluster, packing my stuff, and taking the next plane home was a viable option, he came around to the idea that I could choose to do what he asks or not, and he became a little less insistent.
