Look to the Stars, Not Your Feet

“So remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious, and however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up. While there is life, there is hope.” Dr. Stephen Hawking

One of the hardest things in life is to keep balance. A balance between work and home. The balance of a healthy diet, which is, in my opinion, is a donut in each hand. The balance between seriousness and goofy. Mostly though it’s the balance of facing hardship and continuing forward.

We recently lost one of the greatest minds of our time. Dr. Stephen Hawking, a brilliant man who’s voice reached us through a computer. The above quote is directly from him. It’s so beautiful what he says. Dr. Hawking was confined to a wheelchair, unable to move or speak. Dr. Hawking wasn’t born that way it was something that developed later in life for him. Though doctors had given up hope for him and given him not long to live, Dr. Hawking decided to push through and not give up.

Dr. Hawking saw such beauty not in just or world but in our universe. There is so much to discover and wonder about. I know that with my recent struggles that there are far worse things I could’ve gone through. That I made a bigger deal out of it then I should’ve. Then again it wouldn’t have to lead me here to Project Wednesday and finding my talent to write.

Dr. Hawking faced a great challenge. Through all of his hardships and challenges, he never gave up. He knew there was always something he could do and succeed at.

The same can be said for ourselves. We can look up the majesty of the night sky in awe and wonder. We never truly appreciate what we see nor do we wonder about it. We spend our time running from task to task taking little time to breathe and relax. Even on vacation, we spend most of it performing some sort of task.

We can get so overwhelmed in this life with all that we face. We lost a job, relationships fall apart, we were in a car accident, we’re overstressed, overworked, and we’re just all about out of hope. The thing is, there is so much more to our lives and this world.

There are going to be so many times where we just want to roll over and give up, but my friends, ask yourself this, what good will that do?

If a man bound to a wheelchair and can only speak with the help of a computer can teach us about the universe and theoretical physics and cosmology, what makes the world spin. What could we accomplish?

The last part of the quote, “While there is life, there is hope.” We are alive and breathing for a reason. We can balance the times that we fall and outweigh it greatly by the times we get up, brush the dust from our pants and say I can do this.

Balance is reaching for the stars and never giving up hope because we have our life.

God Bless and Positive Vibes.

In Memory of Dr. Stephen Hawking

Niall Covington

Born with a genetic disorder, Niall knows what it is like to be knocked down. He has been there several times and he has been able to get back up because of faith and a small number of friends. Seeing others getting knocked down, Niall offers a hand whether he has just fallen or is on the way back up himself. Volunteering as a summer camp counselor for children, teens, and young adults with the same disorder, Niall hopes to inspire them to overcome life's road blocks. For Niall, writing for Project Wednesday is an opportunity to reach more people, and to help more.

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