understand the universe

the observable universe is 93 billion light-years across. it contains roughly 2 trillion galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars. the light from some of these stars has been traveling for 13 billion years just to reach your eye.

now remind me: what were you stressed about today?

the cosmic perspective

this isn't nihilism. it's calibration. your problems are real. your feelings are valid. but the weight you assign to them is often wildly disproportionate to their actual significance.

that argument with your coworker? it exists on a speck of dust orbiting an average star in an unremarkable galaxy. the promotion you didn't get? the traffic that ruined your morning? the embarrassing thing you said at dinner? all happening on a tiny rock that the universe doesn't know exists.

this should be liberating, not depressing.

watch cosmos

if you haven't seen "cosmos: a spacetime odyssey," it's the single best gateway to understanding where you are in the grand scheme of things. neil degrasse tyson walks you through the history of the universe, the evolution of life, and the unfathomable scales of space and time.

you'll feel small. that's the point. because once you feel small, the things that felt huge suddenly feel manageable.

ego dissolution through scale

your ego wants you to believe you're the center of everything. that your problems are uniquely important, that your timeline is urgent, that the stakes of your daily life are cosmic. they're not. and recognizing that doesn't diminish your life -- it right-sizes it.

the healthiest people are those who can hold two truths simultaneously: my life matters to me, and my life is a microscopic blip in an incomprehensibly vast universe. both are true. and the second one is the antidote to taking yourself too seriously.

your assignment

this week, spend 30 minutes learning about the scale of the universe. watch cosmos. look at hubble telescope images. read about the timeline from the big bang to now. let the enormity of it wash over you.

then go back to your to-do list and notice how different it feels.

you're a brief consciousness on a small planet in an infinite cosmos. might as well enjoy the ride instead of stressing about the turbulence.

if this resonated, share it with someone who needs to hear it.