Posts Tagged: discouraging ourselves

“My Career as an Astronomer”

On November 14, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I have decided to reactivate my dream of being an astronomer.

When we were vacationing in Arizona, my wife and I toured the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff.  We toured the facility during the morning, and came back that night to gaze through telescopes.

My mind went back to the sixth grade.  I tried to found an astronomy club at my school.  I had done some reading in a very old partial set of encyclopedias that my parents had been given.  Fortunately, the “S” volume (as in “Solar System”) and the “A” volume (“A” is for “Astronomy”) were more or less intact.  I will freely confess that I did not really understand everything I read.  In fact, I mostly looked at the pictures.  However, it was enough.  I was going to be an astronomer, so I decided to start an astronomy club at school.

I got several people to sign up for my club.  However, one of the members (whom I will call Donny Jones) was one of those people who rains on every parade.  He was very smart, but his kindness was exceedingly underdeveloped.  He pointed out that I was not very good at mathematics (which was true), and that astronomy required people who are good at math (which may or may not be entirely true).

The astronomy club dissolved like snow on a day in mid-April.  So did my dream of being an astronomer.  I hadn’t thought about this for many years (decades?) until I visited the observatory.

But the deeper problem wasn’t Donny Jones or even my math skills.  The problem was that I allowed a few unkind words to derail me.  Of course, now that I am all grown up, and indeed old, that is no longer a problem.

Right!

Well, it shouldn’t be a problem.  However, I still allow it to be a problem.  And the truth is that the discouragement doesn’t always come from outside.  The problem is that I am frequently my own “Donny Jones.”

Step 1:  I want to learn or do something.

Sep 2:  I think of all the reasons I can’t learn or do that particular thing.

Step 3:  I get frustrated.

Step 4:  I give up.

What I really need is an exorcism.  I need a demon named “My Personal Donny Jones” to be cast out.

Of course, we don’t generally call people who are called exorcists, do we?  Instead, we make an appointment with a modern-day exorcist, but we call them “psychiatrists” or “psychologists.”  And they really can and do help.  I have gone through extensive counseling through the years, and have found that such counseling can be very helpful.

But the problem is this: No matter how much counseling I have received, Donny Jones keeps showing up in my mind.  Sometimes, I invite him in.  At other times, he sneaks in a window or door that I forgot to lock.  I sometimes don’t even recognize him.  He is a master of disguise.

For example, I was planning to write for at least an-hour-and-fifteen minutes today.  However, a voice whispered to me, “That is a long time.  Perhaps the goal is unrealistic.  After all, you did post a blog today that you wrote a couple of days ago.”

Shut up, Donny Jones!  And get out of my head, durn your miserable hide!

So, today, I am going to look at some pictures of Saturn on line.  I’m going to think about astronomy.  Who knows?  I may even learn something about math.

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