Lessons In Flying – Shifting Your Perspective from Powerless to Powerful

Are you afraid to fly?

Here’s one of the beautiful things about flight: no matter how bumpy the ride, how packed the plane or claustrophobic the journey, no matter how long or far you travel, when you look outside, the view can override every fear, disappointment and anxiety. So, if you’re experiencing turbulence right now or feel like you’re lacking breathing room – however you can relate to this metaphor – check your perspective. Look left, look right, lean over a passenger (friend, colleague, family member, etc.) or two and take in the views. Often, we can be so preoccupied with all the hassles of flying (I am currently not a massive fan of these face-masked-up journeys in tin-cans) that we forget to embrace the beauty outside. That’s perspective.

How does this apply IRL?

Well, as an example, I’ve been on this journey to Tokyo (2020 2021 Olympic Games) for a while and this year, even this past few weeks has been a little chaotic. I’m living at home with parents (claustrophobic, packed plane); I’m not jumping as well as I’d hoped (turbulence) and my body is feeling more battered and bruised within and between comps than usual (fear, anxiety).

Sometimes it feels like I’m sat on the aisle seat – so many people passing by, bumping and crashing into my space as they go about their business, oblivious of their impact on my world (running a business).

With all this happening, it’s time to lean across and look outside.

Because, my perspective is something that is within my control. And so is yours. You can control your perspective; you can choose how and what you focus on during your journey.

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Here are a few tips to help shift your perspective:

Plan ahead

Book an aisle seat, silly. That way you won’t keep getting bumped and, to get a better perspective, you won’t have to lean across others; you’ll have the peace you’re longing for and get unfettered access to one of the best views in the world – literally. Yes, you may have to pay a little more for this luxury of choice, but it’ll be worth it!

Practically, this may look like…

• Having clearer business (and personal) policies in place to aid communication between clients, contractors and employees

• Including more regular breaks within your schedule – longer lunches or simple 10-15 minute buffer zones between meetings, implementing a cap on the number of Zoom meetings you take each day, taking a mindful moment (1-2 minutes) to breath and bring awareness back to your body and heart, out of your head and relieving tension.

• Redistributing finances – create a budget. Maybe you can cancel an unused subscription (that reminds me – I have 3 unused Audible credits, so clearly that subscription needs to end!) and use what you’ve saved to spend more where it matters.

Keep your head above the clouds

I am sure you’ve heard the phrase, ‘get your head out of the clouds!’ ?

Well, I’m here to tell you to ignore that bad advice! Get that heavenly perspective, look out and see clouds and sky. And dream big.

Practically this may look like…

• Creating big, Olympic-sized goals that may seem so unrealistic you’ll need to enlist a team to not only help you put it all together, but to also keep you together mentally, emotionally, spiritually and maybe even physically when you experience moments of weakness and doubt.

• Praying. Personally, I seek to make prayer an everyday thing. It’s conversation with my heavenly Father so…of course! But, I’m human, I’m imperfect. We all are. And at times, an ‘everyday thing’ becomes rarer than you’d like. So, this is a reminder that prayer is powerful and God listens. So, speak. Share your fears, share your desires, share your heart and take a moment to listen because you may just gain a heavenly perspective that reawakens your big dreams and inspires your next step.

Drop me a message if you’d love a prayer or Bible study session! I love my prayer groups and would love to help you out if you don’t have one.

This post was inspired by the pictures scattered throughout this post from my recent travel adventures to and from competitions. Since my first competition on 11th August (so over the past one month) I’ve taken eleven flights with a combined total flight time of 23 hours.

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More Than An Athlete: Introduction to 1-2-1 & Small Group Coaching

P.s. I’m more than an athlete. I also help people move from where they are to where they want to be by providing 1-2-1 and small group coaching and talks on resilience, wellness and high performance, having gained qualifications in NLP, CBT, Athletics Coaching and currently attaining my Level 5 ILM Coaching & Mentoring Diploma. Clients include: IBM Manchester, Trafford Council Home-Start, Connell College and private individuals.

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