#342: From Undocumented Immigrant to Space Economy MBA: Dr. Shehz's Inspiring Path to Self-Discovery

Yo, are you ready to flip the script on life? Because those bad days, they're just doors to better days.

And that's exactly what we do here at Grit, Grace, & Inspiration.

Your host, Kevin Lowe. He's been flipping the script on his own life, turning over 20 years of being completely blind into straight up inspiration, motivation, and encouragement just for you.

So kick back, relax, and let me introduce you to your host, Kevin Lowe.

Kevin Lowe: Welcome back to another episode here on Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

Kevin Lowe: Today, I'm in the studio with none other than Dr. Shehz.

Kevin Lowe: Dr. Shehz, welcome to the podcast.

Dr. Shehz: Thanks for having me, Kevin. It's going to be fun. Super excited.

Kevin Lowe: Absolutely, man. Well, I'm excited to get to dive into your whole story.

Kevin Lowe: And I feel like there's always, I feel like in anybody's journey, there's always like a pivotal moment that happens.

Kevin Lowe: Maybe it's at the beginning, maybe it's somewhere along the way that something happens that ends up leading us on the direction that we take and ultimately where we are today.

Kevin Lowe: And and I guess I would love to ask you is when you look back at this journey you've been on, where do you feel like things really started that really got you on the course that, you know, would end up having all the dominoes fall to lead where we are?

Dr. Shehz: Gosh, that is a very good question, because I guess it depends on which dominoes you're talking about.

Dr. Shehz: You know, I sort of think about my life from, you know, two different, I guess, perspectives.

Dr. Shehz: One is there's this journey that I took to become an eye doctor, which I don't, you know, it's not something that was like I consciously like chose.

Dr. Shehz: And I know that sounds silly because it's like, what do you mean, dude? You went to school for like 13 years, right?

Dr. Shehz: I had to make those decisions to get to where I am.

Dr. Shehz: But you know how like you learn a language and or speak like your native language and you just like wake up one day and you start speaking it.

Dr. Shehz: You don't really remember like learning it, right? Because it's like part of me.

Dr. Shehz: That's how becoming a doctor was for me. I was always sort of just like told.

Dr. Shehz: That that's what I'm going to do. You know, those were my, those were the expectations my parents had and my extended family had.

Dr. Shehz: And so there was no other like question in my mind.

Dr. Shehz: It was, you know, even though I did all of these other things along the way, like start a business and, you know, some other things, it was always, always, I'm going to be a physician.

Dr. Shehz: And so when you go through life in that way, I don't think you really like appreciate the true power and gratitude of the thing that you were able to do, right?

Dr. Shehz: Like I'm a physician and I always just never really like truly understood what that meant because I felt like I never had the agency to like choose that path my way, right? Out of my own belief.

Dr. Shehz: Because, you know, even though, I mean, you would think like I'm an eye surgeon, I do all of these beautiful surgeries to help people see, you would think that I would be very like fulfilled and happy on the inside, but I wasn't.

Dr. Shehz: I felt very empty on the inside, right?

Dr. Shehz: Even though externally on paper, I looked really good. I looked super accomplished.

Dr. Shehz: And that's when phase two of my life started. When I really started to dig deep into why was I not happy?

Dr. Shehz: You know, what was the reason for my not feeling fulfilled, even though everything seemed to be going really well.

Dr. Shehz: So when I dug deep there, I realized that I didn't know what my purpose was, right? I didn't know what my purpose was.

Dr. Shehz: I was just kind of going along life to doing what I thought I was supposed to do, doing the things that I was told I should do, but I didn't know what I wanted to do or what I was doing, right?

Dr. Shehz: What is my purpose and what really gets me super excited?

Dr. Shehz: Ophthalmology, eye surgery is one angle of that, is one dimension of that.

Dr. Shehz: But I'm sure when you read my bio, you're like, man, this guy is like all over the place.

Dr. Shehz: You know, I have a lot of different aspects to my personality.

Dr. Shehz: I like to do a lot of different things.

Dr. Shehz: And I would say just recently over the last two, three years, when I've just really been on this journey of self-awareness and introspection, I've realized that my purpose, is not only to help people see the beauty of our world through physical means, through what I do.

Dr. Shehz: Also to help others see that we all belong. We are all in this thing that we call life, this game together, right?

Dr. Shehz: There is this overlying theme of oneness that I have discovered for myself that really combats the loneliness that I've felt my whole life.

Dr. Shehz: And I want others to see that as well.

Dr. Shehz: Because I think once we realize that we all belong and that we're all one, we're humanity first, right?

Dr. Shehz: We're not these different races and these different ways in which we like split humanity apart. We're all one.

Dr. Shehz: So I hope that answers your question, but it's kind of in two phases.

Dr. Shehz: You know, I got to be in an eye surgeon and then I realized, wait, hold on.

Dr. Shehz: My purpose extends beyond that. Even though what I do, I love what I do, right? I mean, it's a privilege to do what I do.

Dr. Shehz: But that's really the impact that I want to have in this world.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. You know what? You know what I love about that so much is I do feel like so many people can relate to that, is that life is so many times just this idea of going through the motions on that path that you think what you're supposed to be doing.

Kevin Lowe: And it's just ingrained in you that you're going to go to college, you're going to do whatever career and you never actually stopped to really think about things.

Kevin Lowe: And, and so to hear you here in the height of your career, realizing, wow, maybe there's more to me than just this.

Dr. Shehz: Absolutely. Absolutely. That was, that was, that was a huge part of it.

Dr. Shehz: And some of it has to do with, you know, another thing I realized is like, some of it has to do with just the nature of medical training in this country, right?

Dr. Shehz: Probably in the world, you know, because I had some, you know, burnout is such a catchphrase, it's such a buzzword, but some of it was definitely burnout just because of the system in which we operate, right?

Dr. Shehz: The ridiculous, you know, insurance game that we have to play as doctors.

Dr. Shehz: You know, it gets really, really just...

Dr. Shehz: It's cumbersome, you know, part of it is like, I just want to be a doctor.

Dr. Shehz: Can I just be a doctor? No, you also got to do some of the other logistical and admin stuff. So that was part of it.

Dr. Shehz: But something happens in each of our lives that, you know, I call it sort of like you hit your bottom, right?

Dr. Shehz: When you hit your bottom is when you really start looking at a mirror and looking at what you truly want.

Dr. Shehz: And I think we all go through that at some point in life.

Dr. Shehz: I just honestly was lucky to go through that early in life.

Dr. Shehz: You know, I would, I would explain this to my friends and family and they're like, man, you're having a quarter life crisis. What's wrong with you?

Dr. Shehz: I guess I am, but I would rather have a quarter life crisis than a midlife crisis.

Dr. Shehz: I want to figure it out early. You know what I mean?

Kevin Lowe: So that is, that is too funny.

Dr. Shehz: Not to say that I've figured anything out, but man, in this phase of my life, I'm 33 years old. I'm going to be 34 in like two weeks.

Dr. Shehz: I can't believe it. I have so much more clarity now than I've ever had before.

Dr. Shehz: And clarity is a wonderful thing, man.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Well, well, give me an idea of, cause I'm curious at this point to understand more about who, who you are in terms of your background, where you came from, because I read that you lived, basically you came to America with your family from India.

Dr. Shehz: Yep, yep.

Kevin Lowe: Talk to me about that whole journey in your story.

Dr. Shehz: Yeah, so we came from India when I was seven years old. My dad, life was very, very tough in India.

Dr. Shehz: And so he decided to pick up in his early 20s and move his entire family across the world.

Dr. Shehz: Can you imagine coming to a brand new country?

Dr. Shehz: Got a seven-year-old kid, had a younger sister. She was six months old.

Dr. Shehz: And you're just trying to figure out, you know, if there's something better out there for you. So, you know, kind of the very typical sort of immigrant dream, if you will, right, that we that we hear about.

Dr. Shehz: And it's such a common story among so many people. And when you got here, we came on a tourist visa.

Dr. Shehz: And 20 something years later, we're still touring, man.

Dr. Shehz: America's so big, there's so much to see. No, I mean, so we came on a tourist visa and there's a particular process you're supposed to go through to legally immigrate into the country.

Dr. Shehz: And my dad just didn't know about that, right? He didn't even graduate from high school, really didn't have any formal education and training in any way, neither of my parents.

Dr. Shehz: And so he came here and he was working like three different jobs, just trying to survive.

Dr. Shehz: And before we knew it, our visas had expired and our whole family became undocumented.

Dr. Shehz: And so those initial years of my life were spent in that way.

Dr. Shehz: I didn't get my green card until I was 22 years old.

Dr. Shehz: So from 7 to 22, I was one of those illegal aliens.

Dr. Shehz: So from 7 to 22, no green card, got my green card at 22, got my citizenship at 25.

Dr. Shehz: And then my world just completely changed, right? I mean, I was able to go to medical school.

Dr. Shehz: I was able to intern at NASA. I did some of the initial research on vision issues that astronauts have in space.

Dr. Shehz: And then, you know, I was about to go to residency. I mean, my entire life completely changed.

Dr. Shehz: And that is what happens when you become a citizen of one of the greatest nations on earth, right?

Dr. Shehz: So, I mean, I call it my blue superpower.

Dr. Shehz: My passport is like my superpower. I can pretty much do anything I want, you know, anything that you set your mind to.

Dr. Shehz: I really, really believe that. So that's kind of how that whole immigration journey went.

Dr. Shehz: And those initial years from seven to 22 without a green card, I mean, some of the hardest, hardest years of my life.

Dr. Shehz: You are limited in a lot of ways without any documentation.

Dr. Shehz: Can't drive, can't do anything, can't travel.

Dr. Shehz: All of our discussions as a family would be like, man, like, you know, what do we do?

Dr. Shehz: Do we do we save money and invest back home?

Dr. Shehz: Do we save here? I mean, all of those like conversations and just living in fear, like that's what I remember right from those early years.

Dr. Shehz: And it got even worse because my dad was picked up by immigration, by ICE, as part of like this kind of raid, if you will.

Dr. Shehz: And so my dad was placed in deportation proceedings.

Dr. Shehz: And I mean, I could tell you, I swear I could tell you how to legally immigrate to this country, like to the T now.

Dr. Shehz: Because when I was trying to figure out how to prevent my family from getting kicked out of the country, I was calling those shots. I was talking to the lawyers.

Dr. Shehz: I was learning about this system and how to navigate it so that our family can be together.

Dr. Shehz: There was just a lot of chaos in that early part of my life.

Dr. Shehz: And I think in that chaos is probably where I started to feel like I just don't belong.

Dr. Shehz: You know, when I mentioned earlier about loneliness, like I just always felt like I never belonged.

Dr. Shehz: Right. As an immigrant, it's really hard to fit in. I couldn't really speak the right type of English. My accent was very thick.

Dr. Shehz: This whole immigration thing. And so I just started creating this narrative in my head that like, I'm not supposed to be here. I don't really belong.

Dr. Shehz: My mother had some mental illness around that same time as well that started showing up bipolar and schizophrenia.

Dr. Shehz: And so I have a very soft spot in my heart for people with mental illness.

Dr. Shehz: And so like at home, I felt like I didn't belong because of all the chaos in this country. I felt like I didn't belong because of the immigration story.

Dr. Shehz: So the only place I felt like I belonged was school. I was really good at taking tests and just knock him out of the park.

Dr. Shehz: So that became sort of my identity, right?

Dr. Shehz: I was the guy that was really good at school. And so I just like hung on to that.

Dr. Shehz: I think that's probably part of the reason why it was always medicine and it was always something in academia, right? Because I was good at that.

Kevin Lowe: Wow. Wow.

Kevin Lowe: Very, very, very powerful story just of your childhood years.

Kevin Lowe: I mean, and I appreciate you sharing this story with me for just gaining that perspective.

Kevin Lowe: I think that in context of where you are, what you've done, I think it speaks very highly of you.

Kevin Lowe: Because it's very easy, I think, when kind of you could say we're dealt a bad hand.

Kevin Lowe: It's very easy. The easy thing is to fall victim to that.

Dr. Shehz: Yes.

Kevin Lowe: Instead, you found school was your escape. And so you dug into that and you rose above.

Dr. Shehz: Yes, absolutely. I didn't know what else to do.

Dr. Shehz: I didn't know what else to do. And I played victim. I played that victim card for a while, man, for a long time, right?

Dr. Shehz: And it's like, it's two sides of a coin, right? Like on one side, it's okay to acknowledge that you were a victim of your circumstances and you were dealt a bad card.

Dr. Shehz: I think there is some processing that needs to happen around that, right?

Dr. Shehz: Because it's a tough thing to go through. And I'm not the only one.

Dr. Shehz: There's so many people out there. But at some point, you have to take that now and be like, okay, now what am I going to do with this, right?

Dr. Shehz: Where are the gifts in this struggle?

Dr. Shehz: Yes, there are the things that, you know, are not gifts. They're the things that were really, really hard emotionally.

Dr. Shehz: But every struggle has a gift. What was mine, right?

Dr. Shehz: And I really had to like think deep about that. And, you know, part of your podcast title alludes to this, this like grit and this resilience.

Dr. Shehz: That's my gift. That's what came from my struggles. Right. And I think that's common. That comes from, you know, anything that really pushes you, and then you persevere, that is a resilience building exercise, right?

Dr. Shehz: And so I always say this, there's really nothing that kind of phases me at this point of my life.

Dr. Shehz: I mean, I haven't experienced the death of a close family member, knock on wood.

Dr. Shehz: That's like the only thing that I'm like, man, I don't know, like you meet some people, you know, they've lost their parents in an early age and things like that. I'm like, I don't know what I would do like that.

Dr. Shehz: I don't how to get through something like that.

Dr. Shehz: You know, that seems really, really, really difficult from an emotional standpoint.

Dr. Shehz: But when it comes to like financial difficulties or whatever, I mean, I've lived that life.

Dr. Shehz: You know, we had pretty much nothing when we first came to the States. Right.

Dr. Shehz: And, you know, and now thankfully my day job allows me to do well.

Dr. Shehz: I have resources. Right.

Dr. Shehz: And so there's really nothing that I'm like, I won't be able to handle.

Dr. Shehz: If you have a U.S. passport, right?

Dr. Shehz: And you have some resilience, you can pretty much handle anything that comes your way. And I really have that mentality now.

Dr. Shehz: So, and then, you know, I want to share this perspective that I think you specifically would really appreciate.

Dr. Shehz: When I was feeling so alone growing up and I felt like I didn't belong, I would go outside and I don't know, for some reason, I was always drawn to the stars, right, to space.

Dr. Shehz: And I would just go out and I would look at the stars, you know, houses of chaos, conflict, you know, worried about getting kicked out of the country.

Dr. Shehz: I'm just like, I just got to leave. So I would go outside, look at the stars.

Dr. Shehz: I'd look at this like dark sky and I just would have this like calmness that came about me.

Dr. Shehz: And when I thought deeper into that, I realized that, you know, I am one of seven or eight billion people on this planet, right?

Dr. Shehz: And we all have our struggles, right?

Dr. Shehz: And we are all on planet Earth. And we are one of many planets in our solar system.

Dr. Shehz: And we're one of millions of solar systems in our galaxy.

Dr. Shehz: And there are billions of galaxies in this universe.

Dr. Shehz: So when you zoom out like that, I was just like, what am I even like?

Dr. Shehz: What am I even crying about?

Dr. Shehz: You know, my life, yes, I've gone through some struggles, but man, I'm just like a little bump in the road compared to the grand scheme of things. Right.

Dr. Shehz: So that perspective would always serve to ground me, you know, and help me cope and manage the different things that I was going through.

Dr. Shehz: And then last two, three years, when I mentioned earlier in the podcast about this clarity that I've found, I went to that same perspective again.

Dr. Shehz: This time I thought about it from an astronaut's viewpoint.

Dr. Shehz: When an astronaut goes to space, they see Earth from that vantage point, right?

Dr. Shehz: And the only thing keeping all of us alive is this razor-thin blue atmosphere.

Dr. Shehz: If that was gone, we could all be dead. And from space, you don't see the borders that we have artificially created on maps on Earth.

Dr. Shehz: You know you just see humanity so that's what i was alluding to earlier when i said that like perspective of oneness and interconnectedness it's called the overview effect and astronauts describe this any astronaut you listen to i'm a nerd when it comes to nasa and space so i listen to astronaut interviews on youtube most people probably don't do that but when they describe the overview effect it is like this profound shift of oneness and belonging and so i thought about it. I was like, wait, wait, hold on.

Dr. Shehz: If we all belong, then how can we ever feel alone?

Dr. Shehz: Right. So it was just this like this, this perspective shift that I really want people to tap into because you don't have to go to space to be able to appreciate that, you know.

Dr. Shehz: So anyway, I just want to mention that.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Wow. I think I'm probably not the only one wondering, why didn't you go into psychology? because your perspective on seeing life isn't common. It's very deep.

Kevin Lowe: It's very powerful. And I think that's an amazing aspect of who you are.

Dr. Shehz: Thanks, man. I appreciate that. You know, there's a reason I didn't go to psychiatry.

Dr. Shehz: It's because I had an ego and an ambition that was rooted in trying to prove my worth because I never felt like I belonged. I never felt I didn't have a lot of self-worth.

Dr. Shehz: I was, you know, abused in a lot of different ways when I was growing up and emotional, psychological, sexual abuse.

Dr. Shehz: I mean, I've gone through those things. Right.

Dr. Shehz: And it's kind of a vulnerable thing to talk about, to be honest, but I know I'm not the only one. It's very common.

Dr. Shehz: And it was very common in India back in those days. And I think it still really is.

Dr. Shehz: But when you go through that, you just have this like feeling of unworthiness.

Dr. Shehz: It's very hard to put into words, but you just feel crappy about yourself.

Dr. Shehz: So in my mind, because the only thing that made me feel good about myself was my ability to achieve things in school and grades, I always had it in my head that I'm just going to achieve to the highest levels possible.

Dr. Shehz: And then I'll finally feel like I'm good enough.

Dr. Shehz: So when it came time to apply to medical school, I'm a doctor of osteopathic medicine. I'm a DO, right? I'm not an MD.

Dr. Shehz: And back then, the reason I applied to DO schools was because my ex-wife now, but my wife at the time, she was applying to pharmacy school.

Dr. Shehz: And so we wanted to be on the same campus.

Dr. Shehz: And so there was a DO school and there was a pharmacy school in the same campus in Fort Worth, Texas.

Dr. Shehz: So that's where I applied. That's where I got in. I never really understood that as a DO, it becomes very competitive and challenging to match into like competitive specialties like neurosurgery.

Dr. Shehz: Ophthalmology, radiology, dermatology.

Dr. Shehz: Those are all extremely competitive specialties. and there are some more.

Dr. Shehz: And as a DO, you're more sort of pushed towards going into primary care medicine because it's a very holistic way of looking at the human body.

Dr. Shehz: And so it just fit primary care medicine.

Dr. Shehz: Well, somewhere along the way, the narrative shifted to where, oh, DOs are inferior, MDs are superior and all this stuff.

Dr. Shehz: And for a guy who puts his entire worst, right? Self-worth into achieving. I'm like, wait, hold on. What did I do to myself? I became a D.O.

Dr. Shehz: You know? So you're telling me I'm not good enough? I already feel like I'm not good enough. You're telling me I'm not good enough even more?

Dr. Shehz: So wait, what are you saying I can't do?

Dr. Shehz: Oh, I can't do a competitive specialty?

Dr. Shehz: Hold my chai. Watch me, right? Watch me.

Dr. Shehz: Watch me do something competitive. Watch how I do it because I need to do it. I got to feel worthy.

Dr. Shehz: It sounds ridiculous in a way, but these are the conversations I'm having with myself.

Dr. Shehz: So I chose ophthalmology for a lot of reasons.

Dr. Shehz: This wasn't the only reason, you know, I mean, it's a good mixture of medicine or clinic and surgery, right? It's very intellectual.

Dr. Shehz: I mean, I can do cataract surgery in 15, 20 minutes and people see better right away.

Dr. Shehz: The instant gratification as a doctor high tech field, all of those reasons, great work-life balance, all of those reasons were there.

Dr. Shehz: And then I also thought about psychiatry. I also thought about some of these other things I'm interested in, but I was like, no, if I can be the first DO to match, into ophthalmology, into this very, very competitive program in Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Shehz: It's called the Dean McGee Eye Institute. It was like a top, top three or top five program at the time. I was like, that's attractive.

Dr. Shehz: That's what I want to do. So, so that became my goal. Right.

Dr. Shehz: And I mean, it goes deeper, dude, like this whole like NASA thing.

Dr. Shehz: I didn't want to just study the vision issues that astronauts had in space.

Dr. Shehz: I wanted to be an astronaut, right?

Dr. Shehz: Because then I'm going to be worthy. Because who are astronauts?

Dr. Shehz: They are the exceptional specimens of humanity, right?

Dr. Shehz: So I said, I want to be an astronaut. And so I actually like did all the stuff. I interned at NASA.

Dr. Shehz: So I was like, I'm going to be the first DO to match ophthalmology into this program.

Dr. Shehz: And then I'm going to be the first DO ophthalmologist as an astronaut.

Dr. Shehz: I mean, it was like neurotic, right? It was neurotic type of.

Dr. Shehz: On my podcast, I call it pathological ambush.

Dr. Shehz: So I went down that road, you know, hit a wall, burnt out for all the reasons I talked about earlier.

Dr. Shehz: And then I realized, oh my God, this is like the most beautiful field that I could have picked. Not only because of what I do in it. I love cataract surgery.

Dr. Shehz: I love surgery in general. I just get into like this like flow state and you're just, it's amazing. And they let me playing my playlists in the OR.

Dr. Shehz: So I'm jamming to like Bollywood music, you know, doing cataract surgery.

Dr. Shehz: And it's like, it's super fun.

Dr. Shehz: But beyond that, right, there's this inherent metaphor of being able to see.

Dr. Shehz: I was blind to my own truth, my own purpose, my entire life, right?

Dr. Shehz: And how ironic that now I help people see the beauty of this world.

Dr. Shehz: But while I was learning to do that, I couldn't see my own truth, you know? And so there's this entire.

Dr. Shehz: Like, language and metaphors in my day job that I can apply to this bigger and broader work that I want to do in the world, right?

Dr. Shehz: So I could not have picked a better field, honestly.

Dr. Shehz: Everything happens for a reason. I really believe that, especially as I'm learning more about my faith. I'm really, really starting to, like, believe that.

Dr. Shehz: And there's no question in my mind all this happened for for a reason right so that's kind of my yeah that's why ophthalmology and eye surgery but you're right i mean in terms of like psychiatry psychology dude i i mean i love i love that stuff right i love that stuff i'm reading about different philosophers and things like that so yeah.

Kevin Lowe: No i mean i think absolutely fascinating and would you mind expanding i'm kind of curious to understand a little bit more about the whole space and NASA aspect as far as how has that impacted like what you're doing in work today?

Dr. Shehz: Yeah. Yeah. So, so initially when I got into that work, it was specifically within the context of the vision issues that astronauts have in space.

Dr. Shehz: You know, I was very fascinated about that.

Dr. Shehz: I also knew that it would sort of help me set myself apart from the crowd, right?

Dr. Shehz: In terms of, you know, when you're trying to match into a very competitive specialty, and in a program that's never taken a DO before, you have to be a little different.

Dr. Shehz: And so this was sort of my way to help me stand apart.

Dr. Shehz: And also it's just like super cool stuff, man. When I interned at NASA for two months, I got to live with an astronaut.

Dr. Shehz: I got to live with Chris Cassidy.

Dr. Shehz: He at the time was chief of the astronaut office. So he's like the head honcho, the big boss.

Dr. Shehz: And he was a Navy SEAL before that. And that wasn't good enough.

Dr. Shehz: So he's like, I want to be an astronaut, you know?

Dr. Shehz: And for a guy who's like wanting to be good enough, you can imagine my excitement, my fascination, right? When I got to live with him, spend time with him.

Dr. Shehz: I would tour the neutral buoyancy lab, which is where all the astronauts do spacewalk practicing.

Dr. Shehz: It's like this giant pool, indoor pool.

Dr. Shehz: And then I would come home and tell him about it.

Dr. Shehz: I was like, hey, I saw the facility where you train. He's like, oh, yeah. And then he told me like all the little juicy details that nobody else knows, you know.

Dr. Shehz: So it was super, super exciting. So that was like 2017. And then, you know, I managed into ophthalmology.

Dr. Shehz: And for three years, just kind of really drilled down on that because you don't really have time to do anything else as a resident.

Dr. Shehz: And then in 2022, I got an MBA in the space economy, right?

Kevin Lowe: Okay.

Dr. Shehz: So again, I finished my training and I was not really feeling fulfilled.

Dr. Shehz: You know, I was like, well, I'm done. Now what? Is this it? There's got to be something else.

Dr. Shehz: And so I opened up that space chapter again in my life. And I don't know how this happened.

Dr. Shehz: I was literally just on the couch, like just surfing the web.

Dr. Shehz: And this ad popped up for this, you know, first of its kind space MBA program.

Dr. Shehz: So you learn about this like evolving field of commercial space. Right.

Dr. Shehz: And I was like, oh my gosh. And again, it was the first cohort.

Dr. Shehz: I was like, oh my gosh, I got, I got to do this. I'm going to be the first in this, in this class to learn about this exciting stuff.

Dr. Shehz: So I got that. I did that for a whole year, I was surrounded by like, you know, Space Force generals and, you know, senior, senior executives of various consulting companies and startups.

Dr. Shehz: I mean, just in here, I was an eye doctor, you know, like everybody was like, you know, you go around giving your little intro and everyone had like a little cool, super cool intro.

Dr. Shehz: And I was like, I'm an eye doctor. I interned at NASA.

Dr. Shehz: Hi. You know, it just, again, felt kind of, kind of out of place.

Dr. Shehz: But, but no, that was one of the most exciting, I guess, degrees, you know, from a formal education standpoint that I've ever gotten, just learning about all this stuff.

Dr. Shehz: So now that I have much more clarity in terms of what I want to do, I'm giving a TEDx talk in October in South Africa on this overview effect, this metaphor that I described.

Dr. Shehz: And so what i want to do is i want to one leverage my nasa experience to help people understand how we can all belong and have more love and compassion for each other if we just understand this overview effect this perspective of oneness that space provides right so from a spiritual philosophical standpoint, I want to bring that into the common person's awareness. That's my first goal.

Dr. Shehz: The other thing, even though I got the space economy MBA to appear different so I can have my, you know, so I can feel worth it.

Dr. Shehz: What I realized is that I didn't need the MBA to feel that.

Dr. Shehz: Right. But I got it. And I learned so much, man.

Dr. Shehz: And it is like, I mean, it is going to be world changing.

Dr. Shehz: Right. In the next 15, 20 years, you're going to start hearing about, wow, people are manufacturing resources in space.

Dr. Shehz: Wow. We just landed on an asteroid and we're starting to mine resources to bring back to Earth.

Dr. Shehz: Right. So there are all of these like it's going to hit every industry, every job sector because it's a completely, literally a new world.

Dr. Shehz: And I call it the great equalizer.

Dr. Shehz: Space can really be the great equalizer.

Dr. Shehz: Right. People that are marginalized today and feel like they don't have a lot of resources because this world is run by billionaires and corporations.

Dr. Shehz: That world can be run by the people if we open our eyes to actually what's happening in space.

Dr. Shehz: Most people don't realize it, but when Elon Musk cracked the code on reusable rockets, accessing space became so much cheaper, right?

Dr. Shehz: We can launch rockets, send things to space, and those rockets land vertically back on Earth.

Dr. Shehz: That is mind-blowing, right? Because before that, Imagine like you got into 737, 747 Boeing, you went from here to China, and then you threw away the jet every time you went.

Dr. Shehz: That's what we were doing before. Rockets would burn down.

Dr. Shehz: Now, we don't have that problem. So accessing space has gotten much cheaper, which means now that entire world is opening up to the common people.

Dr. Shehz: So the other thing I want to do with my experience in NASA and space is bring awareness to this entire field that nobody really knows about.

Dr. Shehz: And I just want people to get involved in any capacity possible, because the likelihood of it affecting their day to day life and their job, their livelihood is super high, especially the young generation, because this is a futuristic 15, 20 years down the road type of thing. Right. So fascinating.

Kevin Lowe: Now, do you find, does space hold anywhere, places for advancements in like medicine that we're doing here on Earth?

Dr. Shehz: Absolutely. Yep. So the International Space Station, the ISS, it's essentially a orbiting laboratory. Okay.

Dr. Shehz: And when astronauts go to space, they spend six months or 12 months on a space station.

Dr. Shehz: They're not just twiddling their thumbs. They're doing a bunch of science on space that affects every sector, including medicine and health care.

Dr. Shehz: So, like, for example, you know, there's research being done on Alzheimer's, right?

Dr. Shehz: There are certain configurations of proteins that you just cannot make on Earth because you have gravity on Earth.

Dr. Shehz: But when you take gravity away, now that opens up billions of more combinations for how you can create certain proteins that can be targeted to cure some of these illnesses that we have on Earth, right?

Dr. Shehz: So that's just one small example of how when you change that big variable of gravity, we don't think about it, right?

Dr. Shehz: Walking on Earth, it's like, you know, we're held to the ground.

Dr. Shehz: Like, we don't really think about it. But that is the one variable we all have in common. And then you take that away in space and all of a sudden creativity goes skyrockets, right?

Dr. Shehz: Because there's so many more things you can do. And that's true in medicine, in engineering, right?

Dr. Shehz: In industrial things, manufacturing, it's true in all sectors.

Kevin Lowe: So, yeah, that is absolutely fascinating for yourself.

Kevin Lowe: I'm curious, what are you looking forward in your own life, personal life, right?

Kevin Lowe: Whether things you still want to accomplish, things you still want to feel more fulfilled in, just out of curiosity.

Dr. Shehz: Yeah, man, that's a great question. You know, this whole pathological ambition and trying to achieve to prove my worth, you know, it's not like I've solved the problem, right?

Dr. Shehz: I mean, I still have it, you know, it's the reason, it's part of the reason why I want to do speaking opportunities and things like that, right?

Dr. Shehz: But now that I know, right, I have awareness that I'm wired to be seen, to feel seen, because I never felt seen in my early childhood.

Dr. Shehz: Everything that, you know, we bring to our adult lives, it comes from my childhood.

Dr. Shehz: Right? It comes from our childhood.

Dr. Shehz: I mean, that's the programming that you bring to your adult life.

Dr. Shehz: And your job as an adult is to learn that programming and then rewire it so that it is healthier. I really think that's the job of an adult, you know.

Dr. Shehz: So now that I know that that's sort of my blind spot, quote unquote, if you will, I'm very careful that, you know, when I choose opportunities that I want to participate in, that I'm doing it for the right reasons.

Dr. Shehz: Right. I'm doing it for me in terms of me wanting to make a broader impact on the world and not just to say that I did it.

Dr. Shehz: Right. So that's that's one thing. So I'm very careful, like, you know, what I allow to come into my life now.

Dr. Shehz: The second thing is relationships. Right.

Dr. Shehz: I have I mean, I neglected my relationships growing up, you know, because I was just focused on one thing was my career and achievements.

Dr. Shehz: And so, you know, it took me 12 plus years, 13 years to become an eye surgeon.

Dr. Shehz: And that's a very long time. And I had very little contact.

Dr. Shehz: Meaningful contact with my parents during that time, you know, to the point where like when I came home, I didn't even recognize who my parents were anymore after after like 12 years.

Dr. Shehz: You know, I just felt very disconnected with these people that I claim to love more than anything in the world.

Dr. Shehz: And so my actions are not following my words. What's going on?

Dr. Shehz: Right. Something's got to change.

Dr. Shehz: So in this phase of my life and going forward, I'm really prioritizing those things.

Dr. Shehz: Right. So I'm prioritizing the impact I want to have in this world.

Dr. Shehz: You know, speaking opportunities, whatever it might be. I'm prioritizing my relationships.

Dr. Shehz: Just the other day last week, it was, I went on a walk with my mom.

Dr. Shehz: I can't remember the last time I did that, you know, it was like a Sunday afternoon and we just went on a walk together in the neighborhood and I'm holding her hand.

Dr. Shehz: She's holding my hand. And I can't tell you, man, like my whole life, I've been searching for fulfillment and peace and purpose.

Dr. Shehz: I'm telling you, I felt it in those 20 minutes when I was holding her hand and she was holding mine. Right.

Dr. Shehz: So it comes down to that. It comes down to just those relationships that, you know, if you're a high achiever, high performer out there, you know what I'm talking about.

Dr. Shehz: You get so locked in to your own drive, whether it's career or whatever else that you neglect all of those other things. And so that's kind of what I'm looking forward to more in my life.

Dr. Shehz: I want to take just more trips and with my family, my parents, and just reconnect after all of those years, you know, and there's also a lot of like I do just over the last three months, I've started to do some counseling and therapy with my parents.

Dr. Shehz: Because, you know, there was there was some resentment that I was harboring for my childhood, even though it had nothing to do.

Dr. Shehz: Like my dad had no he was you know, he was trying to do the best with cars he was dealt.

Dr. Shehz: But in my mind, I was looking at it from my standpoint. But I grew up undocumented. Like, why did it happen?

Dr. Shehz: That wasn't my fault. Dad, like I was counting on you.

Dr. Shehz: And and I've realized that I have not been blaming effectively.

Dr. Shehz: You know, I'm a big Tony Robbins fan.

Dr. Shehz: Tony Robbins always says, like, if you're going to blame someone, blame effectively, right?

Dr. Shehz: If you're going to blame them for the bad things, quote unquote, then blame them for the good, too.

Dr. Shehz: I would not have become an eye surgeon if my dad didn't bring me to the U.S.

Dr. Shehz: My story would not have been possible in any other country on Earth.

Dr. Shehz: I believe that with all of my heart, because there's just there are certain resources and opportunities that the U.S.

Dr. Shehz: Provides. Yes, we have our issues. we have faults.

Dr. Shehz: So, you know, you got to blame people effectively, you're going to blame someone.

Dr. Shehz: And so there's a lot of like processing of that, that needed to happen and forgiveness and kind of moving past those things.

Dr. Shehz: So that's what I'm looking at in this phase of my life is really just improving those relationships.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. I love that so much. And, uh, I appreciate you being vulnerable and willing to share everything that you've done throughout our entire conversation today.

Kevin Lowe: I feel like this has been a really heartfelt, meaningful conversation that I think a lot of people can relate to.

Kevin Lowe: And I appreciate you being open and honest and willing to share it.

Dr. Shehz: Thanks a lot, man. I appreciate you too. I shared quite a lot.

Dr. Shehz: And it also speaks to the host, right? Right.

Dr. Shehz: You asking the right questions and just giving your guests the space to be vulnerable.

Dr. Shehz: You know, I just want to say, like, I think that's, first of all, a gift and an art.

Dr. Shehz: And it's not something we do enough. Right. Like we kind of tend to judge people as human beings and judgment and vulnerability are not they don't go hand in hand.

Dr. Shehz: Right. You have to be in curiosity mode and not judgment mode.

Dr. Shehz: If you're going to expect somebody to kind of be vulnerable.

Dr. Shehz: You got to create that space. And I think you do a really good job of that.

Dr. Shehz: So thanks for asking those questions, man. It was a good conversation.

Kevin Lowe: Oh, man. Well, I appreciate that. That means a lot to me.

Kevin Lowe: Dr. Shez, for somebody who they want to stay plugged into your world, they want to check out the podcast, where can we send them?

Dr. Shehz: Yeah, visionarydoc.com, visionarydoc.com. I'm in the process of revamping the website.

Dr. Shehz: So forgive me if it loads a little slow, but all my social media handles are that as well. Instagram would be visionary.doc.

Kevin Lowe: Okay. Well, I will be sure that all of that is in the show notes for anybody interested.

Kevin Lowe: Man, I guess I always like to end with one kind of powerful last question.

Kevin Lowe: And that is for you on this journey you've been on.

Kevin Lowe: If you could go back to that seven-year-old self, You moved to a new country.

Kevin Lowe: Everything's difficult. What piece of advice would you want to say to that kid?

Dr. Shehz: Everything's going to work out just as it's supposed to. Keep your head down and keep moving forward.

Kevin Lowe: I love it. Simple, powerful, amazing.

Kevin Lowe: Dude, it has been a pleasure to have you here. Thank you so much.

Dr. Shehz: Thanks a lot, man. This was great. I really enjoyed it. Appreciate your time.

Kevin Lowe: Absolutely. And for you listening today, my hope is always is that you've had something today that you can apply to your own life.

Kevin Lowe: Something that's reminded you of your own situation, something that you can take from this podcast, put it into action and make a positive difference in your life.

Kevin Lowe: This is another amazing interview here on the podcast.

Kevin Lowe: My name is Kevin Lowe. This is Grit, Grace, & Inspiration. I hope you have an amazing time.