Fasten your seatbelts, there is turbulence ahead.
I don’t know about y’all, but even just reading the word turbulence makes my stomach…well…turbulent. Flying has given me “mild anxiety” ever since I was a kid, and my dad would take us flying over Lake McConaughy where I grew up. I didn’t quite understand why the plane had to tip in order to turn, and I was convinced I was going to drop out of the sky at every wobble.
Fast forward to adulthood, where my brother is now a pilot and on the rare occasion that we
get to fly with him, I get relegated to the backseat so that he doesn’t have to deal with my “mild anxiety” while he’s trying to fly the airplane. Bless his sweet heart, he is one of the most patient people I know—he even tried to give me a flying lesson in the simulator once, thinking it might help alleviate some of the stress I was feeling if I knew more about what was happening.
As it turns out, he was actually right. The more I understood about what each of the controls controlled and how many items had to be checked off the checklist before even starting the engine, the more my anxiety calmed. I started to understand that even though I couldn’t actually fly the plane myself, I could trust the equipment (and my brother). And, once I knew how turbulence was formed (friction between the air and the ground) I was much calmer every time the little plane hit a bump. (And by “much calmer” I mean not crying anymore. So let’s put this one in the win category!)
Everyone has a circle of control. Inside the circle are the items we can control…like our response to different circumstances. But outside the circle are the items we can’t control. Like the weather. And other people. And whether a plane will fly. And—like it or not—IF and WHEN we go through turbulence—both in the air and in our lives. Things happen. But, we CAN control our responses to the circumstances.
How will we respond to turbulent situations in our lives?
Even just being aware of this circle helps us to lead our lives with intention. Reach out to us today to talk more!