Using Astrophysics to Prove You Should Quit Your High-Paying Job Soon and Pursue a More Fulfilling Life
If you’re into sci-fi and have a workable knowledge of astrophysics and spaceflight mechanics (…nerd), then as much as you enjoy scenes of spaceships entering hyperspace — like in Star Trek, Star Wars, or the recent Buzz Lightyear movie (which I’ve watched a million times with my boys) — you know the physics are all off. The films lean hard on creative license for the sake of action and storytelling.
You might be thinking… “Yeah, I know — obviously it’s impossible to travel at speeds approaching the speed of light.”
Actually — no. It’s not impossible. Reaching the speed of light itself may be off-limits (thanks, Einstein), but we can absolutely approach it.
We’re Already Racing Through Space Faster Than You Think
The latest research suggests that laser-propelled lightsails — like the kind proposed by Breakthrough Starshot — could push ultra-light probes to 0.2c, or 20% the speed of light. And real missions are already moving faster than most people actually realize. Right now, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe which was launched in 2018, is traveling at ~0.065% the speed of light (about 700,000 km/h) — albeit due in large part to gravity assists from Venus and the Sun.
But in the not-too-distant future, theoretical nuclear fusion or fission drives — like those envisioned in Project Daedalus, the Helios engine, or the Orion project — could someday enable humans to reach 10–15% of light speed. And then even more theoretical anti-matter propulsion engines could reach 50% or even 80% of light speed. Not bad for a species that only discovered flight about 100 years ago.
OK Cool, But What the Hell Are You Talking About?
If you read Junteau or VEO, then you know I love using analogy rhetoric as a literary tool. It’s fun and analogies can unlock some powerful thoughts and feelings. And this might be one of the most powerful I’ve ever thought of in the context of life and career planning.
So let’s talk about interstellar travel… the kind that’s actually possible, not Hollywood’s version.
Imagine we’ve discovered a New Earth, just two lightyears away. It's a classic sci-fi premise — Interstellar, Passengers, Lightyear, and countless others. But most people don’t realize that even if we had the propulsion capabilities, the journey would look absolutely nothing like what we see in the movies.
The Physics of Getting There Alive
In space, there’s virtually no friction aside from a little space dust and tiny meteor fragments. There’s no atmosphere and so no steady resistance when traveling through it. If a spacecraft applies constant thrust, it will just keep accelerating forever — faster and faster — because there’s nothing pushing back. In theory, any long-range space voyage would involve continuous acceleration for as long as the engines can burn. And a theoretical fusion (or fission) engine could burn (or at least pulse) for years and years.
But the problem is that you can’t just start breaking once you get a glimpse of New Earth on the horizon. Not only would that require an amount of energy equal to all the energy used to accelerate there in the first place… but even if you could stop instantly, the resulting G-forces would liquefy everyone on the ship and likely destroy the ship itself.
So what do you do?
Flip the Ship!
The only viable, physics-compliant way to make the journey is to accelerate all the way to the midpoint — to the 1 lightyear mark — and then flip the ship around and fire the engines in the exact opposite direction. You don’t actually stop or slow down the engines themselves — a critical nuance — but now you're accelerating against the momentum you just spend the first half of the journey building. You are decelerating, evenly and safely, so that you can arrive at your destination.
So… half the trip is spent speeding up.
The other half is spent slowing down.
It's literally the only possible way to get there alive.
YOU are the Ship
Now imagine that spacecraft is you.
Perhaps you are a highly-educated, highly-paid white-collar professional — let’s call you an HEHPWCP — accelerating through life. First, you build speed… maybe a a great school, an impressive or brand-name job, promotions, big bonuses, impressive titles and coveted offices. You hit “escape velocity” and then you just keep on moving faster and faster , with more and more speed, crushing professional goals, passing peers…
Eventually, you’ve secured everything you need — the analogous peak velocity — to achieve the type of fulfilling life and lifestyle that at one point you told yourself you were working towards. You’ve developed marketable skills, a solid network and reputation, at least some modest degree of financial safety,
But the problem is that… like a ship that never flips around, you just keep accelerating — driven by habit or fear, sunk-cost/time fallacies, the sport of career or business competition, and the abstract idea of “more.” More money, achievements, prestige, momentum, etc.
You blow entirely past the midpoint and you don’t even realize it.
Know When to Reverse Thrusters
The physics of space travel show us why this is a mistake.
Just as a spaceship must decelerate to arrive safely, you must pivot to arrive at the kind of life that actually fulfills you. Most people don't fail because they didn’t go fast enough — they fail because they never paused to ask whether they’ve already made it far enough?
Earning, say, 2–3x the US median income for a college grad (say $80K–$100K) is enough to meet your needs and then some. But pushing for $1M+ a year while sacrificing your health, your freedom, and your daily presence with your kids or your creativity? That’s not particularly admirable.
Cool that you’re flying so fast — very impressive — but where’s home?
I know because I went through this. For a decade, I chased titles, comp packages, and status. But like a spaceship blowing past its destination, I started to drift into a version of life that looked super impressive for sure, but started to feel a little hollow in the second leg of the journey even though it was absolutely necessary and required in the first leg.
That’s the critical nuance that is difficult to understand physically or accept emotionally. You have to be all-in accelerating towards your destination and then suddenly reverse course at the right moment in the opposite direction without actually turning off or even slowing down your thrusters.
The turning point for me came when I realized I didn’t need to go faster… I needed to flip the ship towards a more entrepreneurial direction that leveraged what I had built in my first leg… to achieve the kind of freedom, lifestyle, and family experience that I thought was the whole point of the journey… the actual destination.
If I didn’t — and most seem to fall into this trap — then I’d blow past my New Earth.
Don’t Miss Your Midpoint
You don’t need to quit your job today.
You don’t need to abandon any “traditional” path or expectations tomorrow.
But you do need to locate where your midpoint is. Is it fast approaching? Is it already behind you?
Space travel teaches us that timing is everything. If you wait too long to flip, you’ll overshoot. And the longer you wait, the harder it is to decelerate without pain.
Your destination — a life of purpose, peace, autonomy, whatever — may be closer than you think.
Flip the Engines Now!
So, where’s your midpoint?
And when will you have the courage to reverse your thrusters?
More physics please.
well written and loved how you're actually incorporating the laws of physics into a contextual social framework