Last week’s episode of This is Us got me thinking about how we deal with closed doors in life. In the episode, we see repeated flashbacks to Kevin’s high school football career. He was such a standout quarterback that he could turn his nose up at a scholarship offer from the University of Pittsburgh—surely he was going to Notre Dame or another powerhouse program. The NFL would follow.

His knee had other ideas. On one play, a defender tackled him hard in the knee and he had to be taken off the field in a stretcher. After an MRI, his dad had to give him the terrible news. His knee would likely never allow him to play football again. In an instant, dreams he had harbored for years were destroyed. What sticks with me is what his dad told him next: I know football isn’t the only talent you have. It may take you a while to figure out what that talent is, but it’ll be special.

I’m sure that must have been so hard to believe laying there in that hospital bed. But as we find out, Kevin ended up having a successful acting career. In fact, his talent for acting is something he probably wouldn’t have discovered if he had kept playing football. Looking back, Kevin’s life turned out far differently than he had imagined as a teenager. But can we really say it was worse?

Somebody reading this may have just found out that a door they had been working towards most of their lives suddenly closed. For you, I say take heart. Whatever talent it was you used to pursue that opportunity, it isn’t your only one. That door may no longer be open, but somewhere there is another one that is.