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Let's Go to the Moon.

Showing emotional courage in everyday life.

Kathleen Smith

Apr 3

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Storks learning to fly. Source: Shutterstock

We’re going back to the moon, team. And apparently the era of helicopter parenting is over? Now we’re all Orion CM-003 Integrity parenting.

Reid Wiseman, 50, is the mission commander for Artemis II. Wiseman’s wife died of cancer in 2020. He has two teenage daughters, who weren’t thrilled about him going back into space but came around to the idea.

A recent Wall Street Journal article quoted Wiseman. “I could have a very comfortable life for them. But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.”

That’s a banger, no? Sure, it would be easy to label this guy as selfish for traveling 250,000 miles away from his kids. I lost a parent as a teenager and the fear of history repeating stalks my thoughts. Is some random conference really worth potentially dying in a fiery plane crash and abandoning my child? My brain is a fun place!

But here’s a different question. What happens to me, and others, if I’m unwilling to operate with emotional courage?

Most people don’t want to go to the moon, because they enjoy gravity and not having to pee in front of their colleagues. But where are you hesitating to throw your hat in the ring because your focus is solely on preventing distress in yourself or others?

Distress cannot be avoided. Because this kind of what-ifing creates its own flavor of intensity. A life that is only about managing threat is no life.

So what is your Artemis II? Your 250,000 miles might look like:

Letting your spouse get comfortable with their own capabilities as a parent.
Not having plans for a young adult that they don’t have for themselves.
Maintaining contact with your very imperfect parents because it’s useful.
Letting a kid embrace something even if they’re not good at it. (Or letting yourself.)
Staying connected to a complex, scary problem in our world.
Starting to direct yourself instead of letting your kid’s emotions run you.
Not anxiously monitoring a partner after their infidelity.
Not anxiously monitoring a pregnancy after a miscarriage.
Getting your butt to the doctor even if they might give you bad news.
Letting your spouse or parents make medical decisions for themselves that you would not make for yourself.
Embarking on the aging process with grace.
Acting as if disappointment, failure, and rejection are manageable.

No one is asking you to go to the moon. But you might need to call your mother. Or let someone know your beliefs have changed. Your might ask you to let them find their way to a friend’s house. Your spouse may need you to let them find their way with a challenge.

Don’t get in the way of someone else’s courage. And don’t assume that the people you love can’t handle yours.

News from Kathleen

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