Our Name - Pale Blue Dot

Image: 14 February 1990. Voyager 1's view back at Earth as it continued its journey into interstellar space.

"There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." - Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

I first came across this quote in some science class or another while a biology major at UC Santa Barbara and it has stuck with me ever since. It reminds me that what seems endless can actually be just a tiny "blip" when seen from a different perspective. It doesn't seem to be a particularly common quote and often warrants an explanation, but it's referenced often enough in my own thoughts that it felt like an appropriate name for this journey we are about to start. We are embarking on our very own tour of this blue dot, which feels thrilling and terrifying all at once.As the day of departure grows closer, I've really latched on to a sky-diving analogy that I feel accurately describes my mix of emotions. When you agree to go sky-diving, you know exactly what you are signing up for; you are going to jump out of a plane. When you get onto the plane and take off, you know precisely what is going to happen and you start reminding yourself that this was 100% your choice. But no matter how much you tell yourself that this is what you want to do, and it's going to be exciting, you can't help but have that "What the heck was I thinking" moment as you're standing at the door looking out. Yes, I am excited, but I am also scared, and right now the only thing left to do... is jump.

In this mixture of thrill, fear, and excitement, thinking of Earth as a tiny dot is grounding. It makes it more manageable when the world feels like a very big, sometimes overwhelming place. This thought reminds me that, despite the uncertainty I may be feeling, there are a whole lot of people and places to experience, and they are just around the corner on this pale blue dot if you're brave enough to jump.

And may we all be reminded to be kind, preserve and cherish as we go.