Most people remember their first flight. I do, since it was within the past few weeks. I had to fly to Iowa from Louisiana. I was scared of flying. I don’t like heights. I did not like that my life was in the hands of a pilot. I live in a dorm with a lot of aviation majors and living with them did not ease my fears. Despite my fears, I learned a few things that seem to be applicable to life.
One fear that was half-joke and half-serious was that the engine would freeze and we’d fall from the sky to sudden death. Louisiana is warm. Iowa is cold, and it had a lot of snow. The flight there was fine with no delays. However, on the way out, we had to wait for some deicing stuff to be put on the wings so that snow wouldn’t mess up the flight. I was still scared of the engine freezing, since I am not a science major and don’t understand how such things work. The engines did not freeze, and I am here to write this article.
I learned also that I cannot always be in control and that I must trust people. I really like control and for things to be certain. I have screamed at people while they were driving. I don’t scream at myself if I drive, though. I am not a pilot, so I couldn’t fly a plane to Iowa myself. I also don’t know how to drive in snow, and my truck is older than me, so I could not drive to Iowa. So I had to trust the pilots to know what they were doing. They did. We arrived safely. Sometimes in life, like flying, we cannot always have control. I think of group projects where I had to trust my group to do their part. Most of the time, they did. Most of the time, people do their part. Most of the time, we can trust people. Flying was like a big trust fall, literally.
One other good lesson is to take advantage of the free stuff. Well, it’s prepaid in the ticket price. Every connecting flight, I drank my free glass of water. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a dollar I didn’t have to pay at the store for a bottle. Free pens, free samples, and free shirts make life easier. It is complimentary. Take it.
Also, sometimes you just have to enjoy the ride. I worry. I think in the future. I’m not an obsessive planner, but I like an idea of what will happen. I also like to have an input, a say, in most things. However, I (and you) sometimes need to just sit back and enjoy an event. I enjoyed looking out of the windows. I learned people go sailing outside of Dallas, Texas, on a lake. I enjoyed being nosy listening to other people’s conversations. I enjoyed reading a very interesting book. I was sitting. Someone else was doing the flying. It was nice.
