This morning was my first day back at Racelab swim practice and it felt really good to be back in the water. A few initial observations are that I am lacking endurance and my form is a little choppy. One thing I found really encouraging was how aware I was of myself and my surroundings. I am in a different headspace now than I was when I was training with Racelab previously. I am now very aware...
Inspiration: Barbara Hillary
How one act of admiration turned into a call for action. A month ago I spent some time scouring the internet for guidance on conducting extreme environments research. I have a few ideas for continuing research after I graduate and decided to poke around to see what I could find. In my searches I came across the story of Barbara Hillary. I had not heard about her before, so I found her website and...
Plotting the Course
I needed a visual of how the Everest Base Camp Trek would look, so I created a Google Map with each day included. The trekking route is based on the Mountains in Mind trek I will be supporting in November 2018. I plan to refine this a bit more and then give it back to the company for allowing me to shadow them throughout the expedition. This will be the first of many gifts back, but it is a great...
Everest Base Camp & Gokyo Lakes Trek 2018
In November 2018, I will be trekking for three weeks to Everest Base Camp and the Gokyo Lakes area in Nepal. This expedition is part of a personal journey to expand my expedition planning knowledge, experience higher altitude backpacking, and continue the transition into who I want to be. In addition, I will be applying aspects of my graduate studies in space and positive psychology to this...
Parabolic Flight Booked
Weightlessness, here I come! Astronaut training requires various space analog environments to simulate the microgravity of outer space. As part of my master\’s program, I will be participating in a zero gravity flight, also know as a parabolic flight, to better understand what civilian astronauts would experience in training and to apply my learning to those activities. This week I booked...
A Positive Outlook on Life
This morning I was laying in bed, unable to fall back to sleep, when I realized that my normal feelings of work “anxiety” had changed into excitement. I had a rare glimpse into the personal transformation that I have been actively seeking. It was the first time I felt the benefits of the recent steps I had taken to change my life for the better. This was a pivotal moment and one I...