Closest I got to a spacewalk

I can think of at least three rewards for taking a leap toward the unknown. First, simply acting on our fear releases us from self doubt. Even if we don’t defy gravity and fall flat on our faces our worst-case scenarios are often worse than the actual experiences of defeat. Second, we feel a sense of satisfaction for having achieved what we set out to do. It provides us with a greater sense of self, and builds our esteem. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the experience serves as a personal springboard to take another risk, then another. We tell ourselves, “If I tackled this, I could certainly handle that!” What freedom and power we give ourselves by taking leaps (or even baby steps) toward our dreams. Either way, we are winners!

This was metaphorical to the famous spacewalk by astronaut Sunita Williams. Sunita has now set a new world record for the longest uninterrupted space flight by a woman. She is scheduled to return home this thursday after NASA cleared space shuttle Atlantis' thermal protection system for re-entry into the earth's atmosphere. I had read her Pre-flight interview in a NASA publication and she was quite ecstatic about it all.

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I may probably never get to do a real `spacewalk' in this life, but I have this sense that I am doing it virtually everyday - the closest I could get to Ms.Williams !

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Congrats Sunita, make sure all the tiles are in place in your shuttle's heat shield. Safe landing !

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