From Zero Gravity to Grounded Challenges

My 2024 in a nutshell — A wild year that started on a high and took a swift plunge downhill.

It’s been a wild year that started on a high and quickly took a plunge downhill. In my engineering work, though, my projects have stayed steady. I’ve been able to push through, build, and work on some solid developments — one of which I’m planning to open-source soon. I know it will be useful for many organizations, and I look forward to seeing it live and used widely. No complaints on the work front; engineering has been a steady anchor as everything else around me has taken a wild turn.

Zero Gravity

This year has been about more than just building and coding. I took on an exercise that pushed things in a new direction — triaging a patient in zero gravity. It sounds surreal, but it’s part of a larger goal for me. The ambition to one day be in space has kept me reaching beyond what’s comfortable, and this exercise was a taste of what I might one day face. Right after that, though, my world shifted in an unexpected way — I ended up with a case of irritant dermatitis. It forced me inside, making even a simple walk outside painful. Not only did this halt my training, but it felt like a strike against my progress just as I was gaining momentum.

Injuries and Setbacks

Injuries hit me next — three in a row. Each one was a blow to my training plan, and I had to accept that I…