There was a time not so long ago when I used to love flying. It was an adventure and one I never got enough of.
Can’t tell you when things changed but somewhere along the never-ending journey we call life I stopped enjoying it.
Might have been because of some bad turbulence.
Might of been because of things related to 9/11 or because my dysfunctional digestive system sometimes acts up and makes the flight more interesting.
Could be all, could be some, could be none.
What I know for certain is I am not a fan of 7 AM flights.
Facing Fears & Discomfort
Never been a big fan of Green Day but I like Wake Me Up When September Ends, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) and Boulevard Of Broken Dreams.
Listened to them all in a row tonight and thought about the 4:15 AM wake-up call I’ll answer to make a flight that is way too early in the morning.
Reminded myself I don’t dislike or hate every flight, hell I enjoy more than I dislike, but as I said above it has gotten more challenging.
It is because there is this whisper that sometimes shows up inside my head and that dude isn’t always the kindest man.
He has a nasty streak and he knows where the soft and tender places lie and sometimes he stabs me.
I can’t always predict when or why he shows up but I have discovered the best way I have for stuffing him back into his cage is to confront him.
Ask me how I figured it out and I’ll tell you it was a mix of trial and error plus a healthy dose of FOMO or Fear of Missing Out.
I don’t like missing opportunities because of fear.
How I Help My Children
Whenever my children tell me they are scared or nervous I talk about three things with them:
- Confrontation
- Identification
- Recognition
We talk about identifying what scares or make us nervous. We recognize it exists and then we try to confront it.
It is not a fool proof tactic or something that I have spent a ton of time fleshing out. It is just a system that seems to work for me and something they have had some success with too.
The point isn’t to eliminate fear because you’ll always be afraid of some things and sometimes that fear is a very good thing.
Rather it is about managing it so that it doesn’t stop you from doing what you need to do.
Got just a few minutes left to write because I shall rise before the cock crows and mornings and I aren’t the best of friends.
Tomorrow excites and frightens me a little bit.
It is the start of the new job and I think it could be magical but there are always some nerves in new ventures and I have a few butterflies going.
But if I have learned anything about myself it is that I do better when I am active and not sitting around thinking about what could, should or might be.
If I ever go skydiving you’ll probably hear that I jumped sooner than later because too much thought will kill my desire.
I suppose that could lead to a different sort of post in which we talk about how to make good decisions.
We could discuss how sometimes you just know things and sometimes you don’t but again that is for a different time and place.
I might not get back here to update before Friday or Saturday. Not such a big deal for many bloggers but the long time readers know I used to update every day and sometimes multiple times a day.
Once things get settled I expect the frequency to increase again, but for now we’ll have to look at multiple times per week or something close to that.
Maybe I’ll see you in the comments or maybe I’ll see you later this week, time will tell.
Until then I wish you well, I am off to bed and hopefully on my way to the next great adventure.
Larry says
Good luck with the new gig!
415 wake up call – uggh!
Kaarina says
Adventure on my friend 🙂 I wish you the best in your new home and new job!
Jack Steiner says
Thank you Kaarina. It is an experience.