gravity

I recently watched “One Strange Rock”, the amazing National Geographic series that explores and exalts all of the incredible ways in which the Earth supports her inhabitants. Throughout the show, eight astronauts who spent time in outer space share how their understanding of what it means to be an Earthling changed after their literal perspective of the planet shifted.
One element they discussed was the concept of gravity. As we can imagine, it would be an enormous adjustment to live without the force of gravity - floating weightless, with no real orientation or sense of up or down, nothing solid beneath your feet grounding and centering you. Relearning the physics and mechanics of how to move your body through space was understandably a challenge.

But one particular point they discussed struck me deeply - how difficult it was to experience gravity again after returning to Earth. In the absence of gravity, their physical bodies changed. They lost muscle mass and bone density - nearly ten percent in some cases. Their brains had made new pathways, new operating systems for navigating being human in an environment free of restriction and density.
Returning to Earth was an enormous shock to their bodies and minds. Simple movements that we take for granted like lifting an arm or taking a few steps, was a strenuous workout that led to fatigue and exhaustion. In many ways, without the constant opposing force of gravity, they simply had become weakened.

This immediately triggered some deeper knowing within me and set off an explosion of thoughts and questions. As humans, are we biologically hard-wired to wrestle with opposition, to struggle, to overcome adversity? Is this what gives humans our “I can and I will do it!” or “if I can’t, then I’ll die trying” approach to challenges? At the beginning of extrauterine life, from the very first breath, we are fighting to overcome this unseen force known as gravity. How then can we even separate the concept of “pushing the limits” in our own lives, from the sheer physiological need to survive? This same inherent drive to overcome is the very one that led astronauts into the outer reaches of space, only to discover what life is like without gravity.

I know I definitely feel this drive within me. And just like gravity, I’m hard-pressed to escape it. At those pivotal moments in my own journey when life has seemingly taken me down, I hear a small yet powerful, almost primal voice deep down in the depths of my bones whispering “You can do this. You can and you WILL.” The voice that knows the truth…that I have been overcoming opposing forces since my first miraculous breath as a human being on planet Earth.