Chris Hadfield on following our dreams
Learn other languages, learn to fly, learn to scuba dive, learn medical training, always be pursuing new skills. There is no one specific path to becoming an astronaut. The best thing you can do is train yourself to enjoy building up the skills that end up defining who you are. Becoming the thing you dream of is a long shot, no matter what. The key is to HAVE a dream, a destination, a personal definition of perfection in life, and then to use that end goal to help decide what to do next. It is not the end goal that changes you, but the summed total of each of the small, daily decisions. Actively pursue your dreams by deliberate small choices – what to eat, to read, how to exercise, what to study, where to go, when to change direction. It’s amazing where all the little decisions can lead you. Never hate what you are doing. Make the most of it, find pleasure in the nuance and the art of it, become better at it, laugh at it, make it one of the things that you can do. If it’s truly insufferable, then you must change and do something else. But get the most out of each step of life as you go. There’s always more there than you think. And celebrate success now! Don’t wait to walk on the Moon to notice the thousand small victories that got you there. Rejoice in each new skill, every discovered idea, each small improvement you make in yourself. All the choices and ideas you list make sense. Do what is closest to your heart, the ones that make you the most excited. That way you are inevitably turning yourself into who you want to be.