between earth and space đŤ
the magic of flyingâ¨
This week on the plane I thought about how I was literally IN THE SKYâŚFLYING! I thought about if our ancestors were to time travel from the 1700s into 2025 they would not BELIEVE that it didnât take a life-threatening WEEKS-long voyage to travel across the PacificâŚit would only take HOURS!!! Flying in the sky!!!
This is a simple and obvious observation, but reminding myself of this every time I get in an airplane helps train my brain into a state of wonder and awe, versus annoyance that my seat is cramped, it smells a little weird, and a headache may be coming on. In fact, after doing my little mental exercise, I laugh that I would even think to let those minor inconveniences ruin my day!
I feel like Iâve finally done this little exercise enough times that my brain is now wired to feel amazed any time I catch myself stewing in annoyance on a plane. If youâd like to try it next time youâre on a plane, here is exactly what I do:
I close my eyes and visualize me and my chair floating high in the sky without the physical plane above or below me. The entire plane (luggage, floor, ceiling, people, etc.) has disappeared and itâs just me with my seatbelt securely fastened (this helps me feel less scared lol).
I then imagine looking down where my feet are dangling. I see fields, ocean, mountains, little houses, or clouds whooshing below me. I play with different scenery for fun. If youâre close to a window you can even see what is actually below you and feel even more amazed. Then I look up and see the wide, blue, endless sky. Possibilities feel endless. Or if itâs nighttime I can see star constellations so clearly and up close! A comfortable breeze is against my skin.
Then, if I feel like it, I imagine what it must have been like to be an explorer on a boat: sick, wet, dirty, hungry, and afraid. I imagine being in terrible situations like huge waves coming at me, hitting an iceberg, or not knowing if Iâm ever going to see my loved ones again. I think of how many people spent months suffering on these ships. I remind myself that if I was a woman during that time, I probably wouldnât be allowed to travel alone.
Then I switch back to reality. Remember that Iâm literally flying! Itâs not imaginary! Iâll see my loved ones soon. And if we safely land it will be another miracle, not to be taken for granted. And I remember one more thing: âlong flightsâ really arenât that long when you think about it.
Let me know if you actually try this or have tried something similar in the past!
It might sound silly but itâs actually really fun and been a game changer for međĽ°. I think skydiving helped me gain this perspective actuallyđ! Hereâs a video of my brother-in-law and I skydiving for the first time a few years ago! Please ignore the cheesy music they attached to our videođ.
Now, all this plane talk reminds me of one of my favourite true stories I heard this year.
(I heard about it in Sahil Bloomâs newsletter which you sign up for here.)
Almost everyone in October of 1903 believed that it was scientifically impossible for humans to fly in the air. And that wasnât even just the general public- leading journalists, scientists, and mathematicians were enforcing this âfactâ.
There was even an article in The New York Times printed during that time saying that if it were to actually happen, it wouldnât happen for another one to ten million years (!!!):
Whatâs so cool is that just a few states over from the NYT headquarters in Dayton, Ohio, (at that exact same time!) two âcrazyâ brothers were working hard to prove everyone wrong. They refused to accept a âfactâ for a âfactâ, and spent years in their bicycle shop obsessed with experimenting with flight.
They werenât devoting all those years to this obsession because they had been given money to, they were just extremely hungry with curiosity!!
Nine weeks after The New York Times article was published, on December 17th, 1903 (almost exactly 122 years ago today!) Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully flew in the air for 12 seconds in their flying machine!
If those two brothers had accepted everyone elseâs limiting belief, they would never have even triedâŚand now we may not even have airplanes or have gone to space!
This makes me think, what other things are we accepting expertsâ opinions on? Many ground-breaking scientific discoveries have come questioning previous âfactsâ. For example: I remember being taught in elementary school in the 90s that the brain is fixed once we reach a certain age. However, at that exact same time, neuroimaging technologies were finally able to prove this theory wrong!
Maybe we personally donât care to be the next ground-breaking inventor or scientist, but knowing these things can help us question our own interpretation of reality. What in our own reality might be able to be disproven?
Could you pick up a new sport late in life? Could you discover that youâre actually an incredible drummer or painter? Could you go back to school and study something out of your comfort zone? Could you find love again? Could you start a band? Adopt a kid? Write a book?
Personally, biology was the one subject I had a really tough time with at school, so Iâve constantly told myself âIâm bad at biology.â But now, Iâm not only obsessed with the brain (which involves biology), but Iâm also spending my free time learning about the body and trying to finally teach myself what the major muscles are when I exercise.
I also recently learned that while I thought I had a bad knee (an assumption that became a limiting belief), it turns out my quadriceps just get tight really easily which makes my knee hurtđ . After learning that I need to stretch them in certain ways (and much more than I was previously), my knee pain has completely gone away!
What could you possibly prove yourself wrong about think week? Pay attention to how you speak to yourself and let me know if you discover anything new!
Thank you so much as always for reading and have a great rest of your week!! â¤ď¸
I love the visualization! And I love what u said about how magical it takes hours vs months on a ship not that long ago. Definitely puts things into perspective!