63: Every Hero Needs the Yellow Sun

Happy Hump Day! We know how hard the middle of the week can be, but it doesn't have to be. Instead of pumping our bodies with quick fixes like a 5-Hour Energy drink or (if you're me) more and more coffee, let's explore the most natural remedy to sluggishness. Energy drinks or other similar power-ups are like band-aids for a deeper real problem. Our amazing bodies store energy and will inevitably use up what supply they have. If you're not storing energy, then what does your body have to use?

Yellow Sun

There are seven spectral classes, yellow being smack in the middle. On the low (cold) end is blue and on the high (hot) end is red. We live under a Class G2 star which provides Earth with exactly what it needs to sustain life. I personally do not find this to be a coincidence! The sun has fascinated humans for as long as humans have been humans. It has been worshipped, venerated, studied, contemplated, avoided, sought... but not yet explored. We have a much more complete understanding of the sun now than we ever did, and yet some basic truths don't seem to absorb quite as well as the sun's rays in mid-summer.

Superman's powers develop as a result of absorbing the yellow sun's UV rays. Comic book canon calls it the photonucleic effect. What I love about the story of Superman is that sort of tells an exaggerated story of humans through the lens of this alien with super-human powers. We all have this ability to be different, to set ourselves apart, and to use the natural elements of our world to accomplish great things, and when Superman absorbs the yellow sun he flies and fights to these great heights we can only imagine. But Superman would not be Superman without the yellow sun. In fact, comic book canon makes it very clear that when Superman lives under a red sun (a star so hot that its power is very, very weak) he loses his power.

The sun is a source of life. Without the sun, everything on planet earth would die. But we don't just live on the sun, we need many nutrients and many elements and neglecting any of them will cause deficiencies. If getting some natural sun has fallen out of your daily routine, add it back in and start to take inventory of your energy levels. Power up!