Mae Jemison: Our Imagination

Our imagination is one of our greatest weapons.

Dr. Mae Jemison was not only an astronaut but also a physician, Peace Corp volunteer, teacher, and founder and president of two technology companies. From a young age, she knew she wanted to be a scientist, and in 1987, Jemison was chosen out of 2,000 candidates to be one of the 15 people in the NASA astronaut group 12. In 1992, she flew her only space mission and became the first African American woman to travel to space.

There are multiple times in Jemison's life whether adjusting to new cultures, adapting to the strict NASA training, or founding and heading up two companies that imagination, curiosity, creativity, and grit were necessary.

Our imaginations is one of our greatest weapons as it allows us to imagine a reality that has not yet arrived but within our minds, we can shape it with such clarity that we can't help but want to make that reality come to be. Our dreams can act as an vision of an end and our imaginations can make achieving those dreams so vivid. With such a clear vision in mind, we can then take the steps necessary to work backwards from that vision, thinking through what steps could lead us to making that dream a reality.

As young adults and all the pressures from life that we experience, it can be easy to lose touch with our sense of imagination. But as Mae Jemison said, do all you can with your imagination and use it to make the life you want to live.

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