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Thursday, May 6, 2021
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
OPINION
I
’ll
be
honest,
I’ve
never
understood the hype around
space.
While
everyone
in
kindergarten ran around saying that
they wanted to be the president or an
astronaut, I sat quietly, ashamed that I
aspired to be a teacher. Our dreams have
inevitably changed since then, and as
a third-year Business student, I — like
many of my peers — don’t really know
what I want to be. What I do know is
that I still don’t want to be an astronaut;
my sensitive stomach can barely handle
a midnight Taco Bell run.
However, for those interested in
space travel, the job market has never
been better. We are amid a space
travel renaissance, fueled by the rise of
commercial players like SpaceX, Blue
Origin and many small competitors
with big ideas that receive NASA seed
funding. And, with the Perseverance
rover recently landing on Mars and
NASA’s modern moon mission, Project
Artemis, in the works, there are billions
of dollars in government contracts
available. This points to promising
futures for aerospace engineers looking
to make their marks at companies
like Lockheed Martin or Boeing. The
excitement has even spread to the
military ranks, as repeated calls for “the
next class of astronauts” have amplified.
And you know that where there is
excitement, there is money; and where
there is money, there are Wall Street
investors ready to lose it. Enter: Virgin
Galactic.
In 2004, Virgin Galactic was founded as
an extension of the Virgin Group, funded
by British billionaire Richard Branson, with
the mission of fulfilling the long-awaited
fantasy of consumer space travel. They
initially predicted that they would make
history by 2009, taking customers on
space flights. However, the company took
until 2019 to actually make history, but it
wasn’t by being successful in their mission.
In fact, they were quite far from it, coming
off of several failed space flights despite
Branson’s repeated bullish predictions.
Instead, they made their mark by
becoming the first publicly traded space
company through a merger with a special
purpose acquisition company, usually
referred to as a SPAC.
I
t’s after midnight and the
textbooks haphazardly
thrown around your desk
are illuminated only by the
computer screen you’ve been
staring at all day. Empty Monster
Energy drinks line the table beside
you and you sigh: “Tomorrow, I’m
getting ice cream. I deserve to treat
myself.”
This year, arguably more so than
years past, the so-called “treat
yourself culture” has expanded far
beyond what was once a reward-
based mentality, where we used
self-assurance to continue grinding
through some sort of undesirable
task.
Now,
the
vernacular
of
“treating
yourself”
has
become
less about rewards and more
about stress-induced indulgence.
However, this growth mindset is a
reflection of something deeper; it
represents the more deep-seated
issues with the stress we — students,
adults and even children — regularly
put ourselves under. Instead of
feeling the need to constantly “treat
ourselves,” perhaps we need to
instead incorporate more into our
daily lives that serves us.
This “treat yourself” culture is
not something that has to be viewed
as the antithesis of “hustle culture.”
In fact, I think that is the root of
the problem entirely. We have been
bred to believe that if something
is not amounting in trials and
tribulations,
then
it
isn’t
hard
enough work or we should be doing
more. Especially at a top university
like the University of Michigan, I
constantly
find
myself
wanting
to do more. I want more credits, a
higher grade point average and
more responsibilities I’ll later use
as conversation topics in interviews.
This innate drive is by no means
a bad thing. We all are trying to
eventually land in a place where we
can relax and live a more enjoyable
life. However, there are a lot of
problems with this logic. Without
sounding completely hopeless and
pessimistic, it is possible that the
future we envision in our twenties
will not come to fruition. Instead, it
is important to incorporate things
that make us happy within the ebb
and flow of work, school or life-
induced stress.
Psychology certainly supports
this
notion.
Lauren
Geall,
a
journalist for Stylist, discussed a
new, related study in a recent article.
Something that really resonated
with me from the piece was this
line: “The results (of the study)
were clear – while having good self-
control was positively associated
with happiness, being able to
indulge in life’s little pleasures
without
berating
ourselves
for
doing so is just as important.”
This reminded me of the Marie
Kondo ideology or the KonMari
method, but applying it to far more
than decluttering. Maybe in order
to truly treat ourselves, we should
be actively engaging in more things
that spark joy. For example, even if
you have a hectic schedule of work
and school, make time to stop by
your favorite coffee shop or allot ten
minutes to go on a walk outdoors.
This past year has proven an old
saying to be scarily true. The saying
goes: “live every day as your last, for
you never know what tomorrow
will bring.” Waking up to a world
in lockdown is not something that
any of us could have imagined. In
a flash, the world was closed for
business, everything kept at a six-
foot distance and away from arm’s
reach. We all leaned on each other
through technological and virtual
means to keep afloat amid a time
where isolation and fear reigned
supreme. I was recently able to get
fully vaccinated and the feeling
I had was incomparable. It was
almost as if every stress or bout of
anxiety suffered throughout the
past year had all combined and been
washed away with the second shot
in my arm. The world is far from
To infinity and beyond: the false
promise of space
“Treating yourself” shouldn’t be a special occasion
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back to normal, but the future is far
brighter than it was not so long ago.
This reflection has even further
deepened
my
newly
adopted
philosophy of finding a middle
ground between “hustle culture”
and “treat yourself culture.”
I cannot urge you, without
being a hypocrite, to give up your
late nights of studying, Monster
Energy drinks and all (although, I
actually prefer Bang Energy these
days). I cannot, in good conscience,
tell you to always choose to do
something that makes you happy
over something you have or should
do. Frankly, this is just not the way
life works. We have to endure the
hard work and put in the time. If
nothing else, it is a reminder that
we are human. Like Lois Lowry’s
“The Giver,” without pain, we’d also
lose ecstasy and joy. It’s all about
balance. And as the semester comes
to a close and the Zoom meetings
end, I encourage you to look back
on what was arguably the weirdest
year of our lives so far.
Think about what made you
stress. Think about what and who
you leaned upon to alleviate some
of that stress. As we enter normalcy
step-by-step, I plan to try and find
the gray area between hustle and
indulgence for the year ahead. I will
work hard and certainly have days
that are nothing but stressful.
However, instead of looking at
everything I choose as a way to
combat the stress as something
to “treat myself,” I want to do
things and choose things that
provide me some form of happiness
more
regularly.
Imagine
how
much happier we could be if the
breakfast we ate with our morning
coffee could be viewed as treating
ourselves.
In a very real way, this is
genuinely
true.
Let’s
find
our
middle ground and collaboratively
try to make treating ourselves a
far more common practice in the
chaotic lives we lead.
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