I Wasn’t Destined To Be An Astronaut.

My Optimism And Confidence Come Not From Feeling I'm Luckier Than Other Mortals, And They Sure Don't Come From Visualizing Victory. They're The Result Of A Lifetime Spent Visualizing Defeat And Figuring Out How To Prevent It. Like Most Astronauts, I'm Pretty Sure That I Can Deal With What Life Throws At Me Because I've Thought About What To Do If Things Go Wrong, As Well As Right. That's The Power Of Negative Thinking.

If You Haven't Learned To Ride A Bike By The Time Your Peer Group Has, Then Suddenly It's An Embarrassment And You'll Avoid Opportunities Where You're Expected To Ride A Bike. And Then It Starts Shaping Your Behaviour. Reading Is Much Subtler, But Much More Destructive If You Have Not - For Whatever Reason - Learned To Read By The Time You Should.

Decide In Your Heart Of Hearts What Really Excites And Challenges You, And Start Moving Your Life In That Direction. Every Decision You Make, From What You Eat To What You Do With Your Time Tonight, Turns You Into Who You Are Tomorrow, And The Day After That. Look At Who You Want To Be, And Start Sculpting Yourself Into That Person. You May Not Get Exactly Where You Thought You'd Be, But You Will Be Doing Things That Suit You In A Profession You Believe In. Don't Let Life Randomly Kick You Into The Adult You Don't Want To Become.

Other Anatomical Changes Associated With Long-duration Space Flight Are Definitely Negative: The Immune System Weakens, The Heart Shrinks Because It Doesn't Have To Strain Against Gravity, Eyesight Tends To Degrade, Sometimes Markedly (no One's Exactly Sure Why Yet). The Spine Lengthens As The Little Sacs Of Fluid Between The Vertebrae Expand, And Bone Mass Decreases As The Body Sheds Calcium. Without Gravity, We Don't Need Muscle And Bone Mass To Support Our Own Weight, Which Is What Makes Life In Space So Much Fun But Also So Inherently Bad For The Human Body, Long-term.

Focus On The Journey, Not On Arriving At A Certain Destination.