Two athletes can reach the same realisation, that a long-held goal is no longer realistically within reach- and handle that moment in very different ways. One keeps chasing the goal anyway, past the point where the numbers and the body have stopped supporting it, unwilling to let go of something they've built an identity around. The other names the gap plainly, admits the goal has moved out of reach, and adjusts their remaining career around that honest assessment instead of around denial. Kallis, widely regarded as one of the finest all-round cricketers in the sport's history, made this exact admission in 2014, timing his retirement from one-day and T20 cricket around the specific, concrete moment he recognised that another World Cup campaign simply wasn't realistic for him anymore, rather than continuing to chase a milestone the calendar had already ruled out.
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