“Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.” — Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)

More than a century ago, Endurance, a ship captained by Sir Ernest Shackleton, famously became trapped in ice during an Antarctic expedition. As the pack ice crushed the ship, Shackleton and his crew took shelter on an ice sheet, and when that began to melt, they launched lifeboats for a perilous journey that took them more than 720 nautical miles to the uninhabited South Georgia island. Difficulties, indeed.

Shackleton’s simple quote may seem like one of the great understatements of all time; yet, it gives us valuable insight into his positive, “solve this problem” attitude.

As ocular surgeons and ASC owners, we are called upon to control our environment, maintain our skills, intercede for our patients or staff whenever problems arise, and create an atmosphere of quiet strength and accomplishment. We are not so different from our explorer brethren; our crises are just closer to home and feasibly, more civilized.

Former astronauts and twin brothers Mark and Scott Kelly echo Shackleton’s no-nonsense approach to tackling difficulties. Mark Kelly flew four Space Shuttle missions before retiring from NASA’s astronaut corps in 2011 to support his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in her recovery from a gunshot wound. Mark Kelly has said he believes there has been a general retreat among some politicians from scientific data and facts in decision-making. His vision is that problem-solving is accomplished through teamwork. He has announced that he will run for the U.S. Senate from Arizona in 2020, in part to put his theories to the test.

Scott Kelly, a veteran of four space flights and a commander of the International Space Station (ISS), undertook a yearlong mission on the space station to study the effect of prolonged spaceflight on the human body. His 2017 memoir, “Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery,” is filled with his straightforward appreciation for lessons learned while in space, separated by millimeters from a cold and endless tomb.

Scott Kelly, who retired from NASA in 2016 shortly after returning from the ISS, writes, “I’ve learned a new empathy for other people, including people I don’t know and people I disagree with. I’ve started letting people know I appreciate them, which can sometimes freak them out.”

His observations are not so different from the lessons we learn in our ophthalmology training and as physicians. In my preceding editorial, I reflected on what we bring to the world by creating enduring contributions in our field. Now, I am deliberating on these explorers’ perceptions of what the world brings to us.

From Scott Kelly, another observation that speaks to me: “I’ve learned that grass smells great and wind feels amazing and rain is a miracle. I will try to remember how magical these things are for the rest of my life.”

Indeed, it pays to consider the wonders we live with day by day. Moreover, for us, a paramount wonder is providing the gift of sight to our patients!

Captain Scott Kelly will be the keynote speaker at OOSS Perspective 2019 on May 5 during ASCRS/ASOA Meeting in San Diego. We hope you’ll join us as he shares his lessons from a year in space and considers why the sky is not the limit. See you there! ■