by Caroline O'Connor

One of my idols is Stephen Hawking. When he was a boy, he would look at the stars and wonder about what was out there. One of his dreams was to go to space and this inspired his life-long interest in, well, in The Theory of Everything.

When he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease at age 21, he was told his life expectancy was just two years. Instead of giving up, he faced his declining physical abilities with a determination to dream beyond the constraints of his body.  He took us all into space and advanced mankind’s understanding of quantum physics and the universe while doing it.

This only happened because he was willing to step outside that which he knew and that which seemed certain. His mind took him where his body and his reality could not.

And so, he reminds me, that great achievements come from great dreams, from imagining beyond the certainty. And he humbles me, who am I to say that I can’t do it? I owe it him to try.

(Image source)

By the way, Stephen Hawking never made it to space, but he did achieve another dream, experiencing zero gravity. So dream, you never know what might happen.