Review | An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Title: An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Col. Chris Hadfield

Date Published: October 29, 2013

Dates Read: February 15-18, 2021

Current Goodreads Rating: 4.14/5

I can remember the moment I decided to follow Hadfield on Tumblr. I don't know exactly if I had read something about him or if I just happened to stumble upon him while scrolling through my dashboard, but I remember seeing his collection of unbelievable photos of the globe and realizing I needed to get constant updates of his time up in space. His photos were breathtaking; shots of glittering coastlines, migrating rivers, and storm systems all taken from thousands of miles above the Earth's surface.

It probably wasn't long after that that I realized he had a book about his experience about becoming an astronaut and spending nearly 4,000 hours in space. For one reason or another I didn't get around to reading the book until this year, but I honestly think it was a good thing that I waited until now to read it. Both my husband and I devoured this book within a couple of days and I still think about his lessons even though I'm stuck on the surface.

Ok, so what happened? This work of non-fiction is the story of Hadfield's life as an astronaut. He starts at the beginning - like the very beginning - watching the first lunar landing in 1969 and realizing he wanted to do that. As a Canadian citizen his chances at becoming an astronaut were (forgive my pun) astronomical. The Canadian government didn't have an established Space Agency like America had NASA and most of the people being sent up to space were America's astronauts or Russia's cosmonauts. But through a variety of chance encounters and hard work, Hadfield finally achieved his dream and went up into space three times - his final time being his six month long command on the International Space Station (ISS). In the years he spent training to become an astronaut he learned many life lessons that he still uses in his daily life as a human on Earth today.

Ok, so what did I think? This book fucking blew my mind. This past year, 2020, has been a shit show where I, along with millions of others, struggled with crippling anxiety and debilitating depression and, honestly, this book helped me come up with ways of thinking that helped me deal with some of those heavy thoughts.

"But Emma," those of you who have already read the book say. "His tricks are actually kind of negative if you really think about it!"

At first glance you'd think maybe that was the case. Some of his tricks of the trade include:

• Aim to be a zero

• Sweat the small stuff

• The Power of Negative Thinking

• What Could Kill Me Next? (this one is my personal favorite)

And, yeah, these all look like negative things to guide your life by, but the chapters actually show how positive these ideas can be. For an astronaut you have to sweat the small stuff and you have to consider what could go wrong next because if you don't you could literally die. What are the steps you or your loved ones need to take if the worst thing in the world happens? How are you going to be prepared when the going gets tough?

Many people find it difficult to address these kind of topics. I mean who wants to think about the worst possible scenario? But Hadfield is right, if you're prepared for everything then you won't have anything to worry about. Hadfield does a great job at introducing these kind of crazy ideas, incorporating his own life into why he thinks the way he does (which in itself is cool because - hello? - space), and how he continues to use those ideas in his day to day life.

I'm sure if my mom is reading this she's probably rolling her eyes because I know for a fact that she's already given me the advice to expect the unexpected, but maybe I just had to hear it from a certified astronaut who's unexpected would have resulted in death to realize that it's not worth worrying about if I have a plan set for when the unthinkable happens. In a world where we are (mostly) all terrified of catching a deadly disease or spreading it to our loved ones or simply just terrified of how the world looks knowing what you can control and how you're going to control it is like taking that deep breath that pulls the anxiety out of your lungs.

Recently I used Hadfield's "What Could Kill Me Next?" tip to help a coworker deal with her anxiety about her children's future. College is scary when you don't know what you want to do once your 4-6 years are up (not to mention the outrageous amount of debt you'll go into trying to figure it out) and my coworker was freaked out that she would be forcing her kid down a path that they may not want to go down or even closing a door before they even realized they had that as an option. I told her exactly what I read from Hadfield - What could kill me next? What could jeopardize that career path they want? What control do you have over this particular situation and how can you use that control to prepare for the future? Who knows where her kids will go and what they will decide to do, but knowing that she had prepared for all available options she could will be a lifesaver.

Also, as an obvious plus, Hadfield was a freaking astronaut so this book was full of photos from his time training and his time in the ISS where he became a social media star after his video playing David Bowie's Space Oddity while in freaking space. Though, I will admit, the acts of getting up there and coming back down do not seem appealing to me so I'm going to keep my feet firmly on terra firma for awhile.

Long Story Short:

• SPACE. It's fucking awesome.

• What could kill you next? How can you better prepare so that you don't die?

• Finally my pessimism will do something positive for me.

My Rating: 5/5