“This image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago, with many more galaxies in front of and behind the cluster.”—NASA

Swoon.

If you’ve not caught yourself in awe of the James Webb Space Telescope images released in recent days, I assume you must have more important things going on.

Meanwhile, my jaw is permanently dropped, as distant galaxies come into sharp focus.

As we look back at… the bit after the beginning?

NASA reports state that the galaxy cluster images we are seeing show us somewhere within a billion years after the big bang.

Use this sort of language and I am immediately transported to a childhood memory of being snuggled in bed reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle, who encouraged young minds like mine to imagine space / time travel. She taught me the universe was ever expanding. But she also taught me that the love of one young girl could save it from darkness.

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Last night I watched a red super moon rise over the Atlantic Ocean, mesmerizing clusters of people gathered at the oceanfront to catch a glimpse, as if its gravitational force brought us together.

My daughters insisted on photo sessions that captured them cupping it in their hands.

They held the moon.

It held their attention.

And the expanding universe felt both small and infinite at the same time.

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What newsletter lesson does this cosmic ramble arrive at, though?

I think it is the idea that you (and your newsletter) can be 2 or more things at once:

Pulled by a strong gravitational force with your bare feet in lush green grass and also part of an expanding universe that we can somehow collect billion-year-old images of and study.

None of us is really just one thing.

The advice of niching down is smart, unless it feels unbearably restrictive.

You (and your brand) are the intersection of many experiences, emotions, and opinions.

Find ways to weave those into what you create.

Be “both and” without worrying you shouldn’t.

Have dimensions.

Create gravitational pull through your writing, and by what you choose to share.

Take pictures of a past no one has ever seen.

Dare others to imagine that they can achieve their dreams.

Help them hold the moon by delivering an experience they opt in to receive.

Ashley Guttuso