Hi friend,
I do not usually get starstruck.
But sitting across from Dr. Shawna Pandya, a Physician, Neuroscientist, and Commercial Astronaut who is preparing to go to space later this year, I found myself genuinely in awe.
Shawna was part of the team closely following the Artemis II mission, the first time humans have gone beyond low Earth orbit in 54 years.
And what struck her most was what the crew brought back with them.
A reminder that from far enough away, you cannot see the borders.
You cannot see the differences. You cannot see the strife. Just a beautiful blue marble floating in an endless void.
This conversation made me look at our own planet differently.
And I believe it will do the same for you.
Podcast Insights
The view from up there changes everything down here
Most of us will never go to space.
But Shawna made me feel like I had for a moment in this conversation.
She described what the Artemis II crew experienced looking back at Earth from beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in 54 years.
A beautiful blue marble. An oasis in an endless void.
No borders. No differences. No strife.
Just Earth.
And she said something that landed powerfully. For a brief unique point in time during that mission, a lot of us back on Earth got that sense too.
That is what space exploration is really for. A beautiful reminder of what we actually are when we stop arguing about everything that divides us.
Shawna is also honest about what is at stake beyond the inspiration. There is a celestial gold rush underway. The South Pole of the moon contains water ice that could be used as fuel, life support, and a refuelling station on the way to Mars.
Whoever gets there first may have the ability to claim it. And the international treaties that are supposed to govern all of this are largely unenforceable.
The race is real. The stakes are real. And the window to get this right is narrower than most people realise.
But Shawna's message is not one of fear. It is one of possibility.
And it ends with something she said that I have written down and kept.
You are going to want to watch this one!
In this episode you will learn:
Why Artemis is just the beginning of a much bigger plan
What the celestial gold rush means and who wins
What space does to the human body that nobody talks about
How to build resilience the way astronauts do
Why seeing Earth from space changes how you see everything else
Simple practice
Build Your Resilience Like An Astronaut
Shawna was clear. Resilience is not something you are born with.
It is something you build.
Her model is simple:
Positive self talk.
Strong social support.
Break big tasks into the next few steps.
Resist the impulse to give up.
This week, pick one area of your life where you feel overwhelmed. Do not focus on the whole mountain. Identify the next steps, write them down, and do the first one today.
Why: Astronauts do not survive extreme environments by being superhuman.
They survive by focusing on the next step. So can you.
Post of the week
7 of the most insightful conversations from the Beyond Tomorrow Podcast.
I break down the ideas that stopped me mid-conversation and why they mattered.
Most of us will never go to space. But every single one of us can choose to look up, push further, and make space for ourselves in whatever field we love.
That is what Shawna reminded me this week.
Keep exploring.
Julian x
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