The risky joy of making ALIVE choices

This or that, now or later, sleep in or wake up, engage or escape, pout or fix, criticize or empower, blame or take responsibility, try… or don’t.

Without placing a value judgement on which of these choices is better than its counterpart, I think we can all agree that one is more active than the other. Making active choices means that a shift is taking place and that we are moving, questions are being raised, and there is a tasty little dash of discomfort in the unknown. Right now, I am talking about the little things… Do you always have to be changing the world? Nope. Are you responsible for always growing, developing and engaging in YOUR world? You betcha.

Saying yes to just about anything (positive, learning, growth oriented stuff) has become a new way of life for me. Meet with a friend to discuss an idea they are excited about? Sure! Work the weekend shift at 9News because it is an opportunity to forecast the weather while I work on my meteorology degree? Let’s go. Brainstorm about an idea that everyone else thinks is crazy? Let’s see where it leads. Some are big, some are small, but the common thread is that each one takes a little effort and for you to let go of the “nope, not gonna do it” feeling that your plan is being altered. From the people you meet, the ideas that are sparked, and the skin that is grown thick from being a little daring, you will see that it feels darn good to make the active decision to be a little edgy.

These choices are more than just active. They are ALIVE.

Words aren’t doing this one judgement. I am going to make the more alive choice right now and make a video so I can explore a little more about what this means to me. Standby!

Here’s the song I was rockin’ out to while contemplating Alive choices… pay attention to the line…

“Happiness, hit her like a train on a track
Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back”

Just  a thought…

What are you resisting? It could be the thing you crave the most…

Big accomplishments are HARD work! I am not telling you anything new, but sometimes it feels good to say it out LOUD! If these things we are working towards were easy, everyone would be rockin’ it, but let’s face it… they’re not. My friend Tripp Lanier is the host of The New Man Podcast and he interviewed Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art. This interview was made for those of us who are searching for why we sometimes avoid the things that we love the most. I promise… if you are working towards ANY sort of goal, you will get it. Here’s my take on why I am a procrastinating fool lately when it comes to my instrument check ride. At the end of the video, I make a promise and also issue a little challenge…

Here are some wonderful quotes from the book…

The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s indifference. Steven Pressfield

Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experince it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential… Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work. Steven Pressfield

The more you love your art/ calling/ enterprise, the more important its accomplishment to the evolution of your soul, the more you will fear it and the more Resistance you will experience facing it. Steven Pressfield

The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death. Steven Pressfield

You can’t change the weather (A note about everything *except* the weather)

A great wind is blowing and that gives you either imagination or a headache.’ Catherine the Great

Yikes! Sometimes things don’t go as we plan.

Take flying, for instance. Try as you might, you are always at the whim of the weather. As a pilot, you respect it, you anticipate it, some even learn how to read it. In a sense, you plan for the worst, but hope for the best. Seeing as though you are quite literally taking your life into your own hands, you give this force the respect that it deserves, and when you need to divert, you head to a safer space.

In Denver, we are currently in the midst of a full-fleded blizzard. No one is flying, even the big boys out at KDEN. We have all been grounded by nearly two feet of snow, ice and nasty winds. When something this drastic shuts our airports down, we just have to take it.

Last night, I was let down by a situation out of my control. Sitting on my bed, I stared out of my 40th floor balcony at the snow that was coming down hard, heavy, and with intention. After a few tears, and a pit in my stomach feeling that lasted until I finally fell asleep, I started thinking about how placing expectations of others can be as ridiculous as trying to control the weather.

Like the wind, ice, snow, sun, fog, calm and rain that can help or hinder our flight, the opinion and the actions of others is out of our control. Each person you come in contact with comes along with their own set of morals, values, goals, passions and vision. This is why best friends and loving relationships are so amazing when they finally come along… when you find a person who compliments, not necesarily matches, your set of values, you are lucky. These people should be cherished and kept close.

As pilots, we plan for the weather, because we are taking our lives into our own hands. In the past, I have viewed this as life and death. Literally. As in, “I can die if I get into a situation that is dangerous”. After a good work out and a few hours to calm my mind, I came to realize that “taking my life into my own hands” simply means never expecting others to comply with my plans, but rather enjoying and appreciating when they do. We will be let down a thousand or more times in our lives, but you can’t be let down if you don’t have an expectation of how things *should* turn out. If you plan on rockin’ it long term, it is time to forego allowing the actions of others to “let you down” and instead, be above it. I know, I know, easier said than done and I am certainly battling with my own ability to do so, but in the end, your attitude will determine your success. Don’t be let down, but rather elevate yourself.

When the weather changes and you have to divert to another airport, you don’t sit around and cry, wishing that the weather would change its mind (I am laughing while I type this sentence because it is so ridiculous). No, you change your route, you look for the blue skies, lighter winds and you land that plane, because YOUR life is in YOUR hands.

When people let you down, divert. Not necessarily away from that person, but divert from your expectation of what they are “supposed” to do for you. Do not be afraid to alter your course a bit, ask for help, get to a safer space where you can get back on your flight plan and get to your intended destination.

Here’s the best news… much of the time, your flight goes exactly as planned. You land where you wanted to land and on you go to planning your next adventure. You are not always let down, in fact, you are often times surprised by the generosity of others and inspired by the cool things that are thrown your way.

‘Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.’

— Helen Keller

The difference between this-

And this-

Is a wider angle lens (*wink wink*), a little patience, the ability to see that in life, we do really have a lot of beautiful weather.

He asked me to define my point of no return…

John and I met for a ground lesson on Tuesday where we planned, in detail, the D.C. to Paris trip, looking at routes, fuel, cost, altitude, and dates. At a sunny table at the Starbucks at R.E.I. downtown, we took both launched Foreflight on our iPads and started inputting airport identifiers.

Here is the planned itinerary: 

Washington, D.C

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Gander, Newfoundland

Narsarsuaq, Greenland

Reykjavik, Iceland

Faroe Islands

Edinburgh, Scotland

Paris, France

We will fly approximately 7,800 nautical miles round trip, which is about 50 hours of flight and a whole lot of fuel…

Once we planned the route, John said something I never thought I would hear him say.

“You need to plan your points of no return”

“Excuse me?”

What the heck was he talking about? When it comes to commitment about flying, I am pretty confident that this will be a part of everything I do, from here on out. Was he challenging my commitment to these flights? I gave him an incredibly quizzical look and thought he was joking. As a fairly new pilot, I had never heard such a dramatic request. Little did I know, John was being serious. When crossing oceans, there is a calculated plan as to how far you can travel over water, taking into consideration fuel requirements, mandatory fuel reserves, diversion for weather and emergencies. Once you cross your point of no return, you are forced to forge ahead to your original destination, even if there are complications. He wanted to plan the point in our routes at which we could no longer safely turn back to dry land.

This really got me thinking.

At what moment had I crossed my point of no return in my commitment to flying and adventure? Looking back, is at this point, a non-issue. How could I possibly return to a life without flight? If my daily life were a flight plan, I would be surrounded by ocean, with no plans to divert to a more conventional existence.

Trying to pinpoint the exact moment when I decided that my days would be motivated by a love for aviation and adventure would be impossible, but I can narrow it down to a week where I was absolutely lit up about life. It was an experience that happened right here on the blog… in a vulnerable moment of excitement, dream-filled ambition and partial lunacy, I told the world right here on the blog that I wanted to re-trace Amelia’s North American route in the Cirrus. Stating out loud that you are going to do something usually puts a little ooooomph behind your intentions, at least in my experience.

Since that post, I’ve had plenty of daily doubts about whether I am smart enough, strong enough, etc. to accomplish all my flight goals, but overall, I have generally stayed on course towards an adventurous attitude all leading toward a flight around the world. How would it feel if I suddenly woke one day, gave it all up, and went back to a life of non adventurous boredom? If I gave up wanting to challenge my boundaries, see this gorgeous world that we live in, and stayed safe and grounded all the time? It just wouldn’t be me.

This is the definition of my point of no return: I am now past settling for a life of ordinary routine and I understand that I am capable and deserving of a rockin’ life of adventure and passion.

If you are feeling bold, ask yourself this…

Is there something you love so much in your life, that if you were to pull away from it, you would feel empty, lost, without direction and lackluster?

Whatever that thing is, chase it. Live with it. Let it excite you. Dance with its potential. Drink it in. Let it exude from your smile. Don’t be scared by the unknown in regard to what makes you thrive. Fall in love with feeling this great and do it as much as you possibly can. Encourage others to do the same.

If you connect with this, you are absolutely, 100%, past your point of no return. You are in it for the long haul. Consider yourself lucky… lots of folks can’t even figure out what they are passionate about, let alone something they can’t imagine their life without.

If you are nowhere close to feeling like you are past a point of no return, don’t worry. It will hit you when you least expect it, but don’t be fooled. You have to work for it, look for it, under every rock and behind every door. You must be curious, inquisitive, loving and eager. Everyday.

Want to hear from a couple of folks who agree? I sure do.

If you make the unconditional commitment to reach your most important goals, if the strength of your decision is sufficient, you will find the way and the power to achieve your goals. Robert Conklin

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” Walden, Henry David Thoreau

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Congrats to our N Flight Cam winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered to win the N Flight Cam! Mitch Ellis is the winner this time, but stick around because we are going to give another away soon! You all have made this blog a fun, inspiring place to talk aviation and it’s about to get much more exciting! We are beginning to plan the the transatlantic flight and it feels good to get started. Anyone know which airport is in the photo? It’s one of our stops along the route!

Here’s a great quote from Emerson to start your day off right…

“Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice. Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is the last day for the N Flight Cam give away!

Read the post below for all the details! Good luck!

Capturing your adventures… Win an N Flight Cam from our trip!

Good morning! We had amazing success capturing the transcontinental flight with our N Flight Cams on board the Cirrus SR22. We mounted them on wing tips, the vertical stabilizer, the dash, the ceiling, the belly of the plane, the fuselage, and the landing gear. We even flew through clouds and precipitation… the adhesive worked like a charm. In fact, it’s been tested at over 300 knots!

Want one of your own? We are giving away one of the N Flight Cams from the trip across the US! Here’s what ya gotta do… start clickin’!

1. Like the N Flight Cam Facebook Page

2. Follow N Flight Cam on Twitter

3. Let us know that you did both in the comment box below and we will draw a name in one week (on my birthday!!!) on January 18th!

If you do all three things, your name will be entered three times. Do just one, one time. You follow?

Good luck!