Lessons from a Hong Kong Airport

I've been to 45 countries, lived in several cities, and probably been on hundreds of planes. But for many years I was deathly afraid of flying. I just didn't let it stop me. I don't know exactly when that fear creeped up on me. I suppose it happened gradually as I got older. I started to question how an object weighing 370 tons could soar through the air at 500 mph. And rather than allowing myself to be led by curiosity I chose fear.

Then one day my mom told me something that completely reframed how I looked at flying. For years, she was a flight attendant for Cathay Pacific Airlines. She had some funny stories to share like the time an elderly woman attempted to open the emergency door during a flight. "What are you doing?" my mom asked. The woman looked at her and said, "I'm hot."

Because my mom was based in Hong Kong her flights departed and returned to Kai Tak Airport. With Hong Kong's countless skyscrapers and mountains just north of the runway stretching in to Victoria Harbor, landings were not for the faint of heart. It required a demanding type of focus and precision for the pilots. In other words, you couldn't really have an "off day" when landing in Hong Kong. 

All this to say my mom had developed a real sense of poise when it came to flying so when she saw that I would constantly get worked up over a little turbulence she said, "Just think of it like driving on a dirt road. There's just a few bumps along the way."

Those simple words put me at ease and I haven't looked back since. I still marvel at how malleable our minds are and how we have a choice in the way we process information. If we frame it in a way that is advantageous we can completely rethink and rewire how we approach our greatest fears, ambitions, and even our relationship to ourselves. 

Lessons Learned Traveling the World

Last summer, I had the great fortune of traveling to several countries in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. It was an opportunity to re-connect with friends, see parts of the world I hadn't visited before, and much needed reflection.

I wrote each day about my journey, while asking someone in each new place for the best piece of advice someone had ever given them. The insights were profound, while refreshingly simple.

http://www.worldambler.com/ 

On the very last day of my journey I found myself in Warsaw, Poland. My final discovery was perhaps the most poignant -- at least at the time:

Living life on your own terms, which is to say, an existence of nonconformity is like any other meaningful pursuit. It takes practice and time to hone your craft. But in time, you slowly get better and better, eventually skilled at shooing away the chatter and noise of those who project their own fears and failures upon you. The notion that you must live a certain type of life wanes in its ability to ruffle you because you have become a master craftsman in living life the way you see fit.