I was a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines right out of college. It was loads of fun. Exactly the right career choice for me. I flew around the country, making new friends and new experiences every week.
I even got paid a little bit to do it.
Contrary to what may have been popular opinion, I learned a lot too. I learned a lot about people, and their behaviors, especially in emergency situations. That learning was the starting point for a life of understanding why people do what they do and how to position yourself to help them.
It turns out, it can be human nature to freeze when confronted with fear.
If it’s not harnessed early, fear gives way to panic which can quickly result in becoming completely incapacitated in an emergency situation. As flight attendants, we were trained to immediately capture the attention of the passengers and either explain a plan, if there was time, or shout commands on repeat, if there was not.
In the best case scenarios, we were able to do both.
One of the commands we were trained to shout during an emergency evacuation included the phrase, “LEAVE EVERYTHING. . . GET OUT!” on repeat until all the passengers had deplaned safely. Because it also turns out that people tend to want to grab all their stuff when exiting a plane engulfed in flames. Go figure. . .
Everyday life works a little differently though.
When we’re faced with fear in our everyday lives, we might freeze at first. But our quick second reaction is to run. Forget everything we’ve built. Forget the years of dedication. Forget all the implications. . .
Just “get me out of this fire. . . and pronto!”
That’s one way to escape the temporary pain. But it’s not the way to become the person who conquers pain. It’s not the way to become the person who faces fear or difficult situations believing she’ll make it through.
The only way to do that is to “Face Everything And Rise.”
Zig Ziglar used to say, “F-E-A-R has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run‘ or ‘Face Everything And Rise.’ The choice is yours.” What you’re going through today is hard. No doubt. It’s scary to not know what tomorrow holds. But you can face that fear.
And when you do, you will rise.
You’ll rise to become the person who can do really hard things.
You’ve come too far to run.
to more love,
Crystal
P.S. This is never more true than in your marriage relationship. Scott & I are looking forward to sharing candidly about the screenplay in your mind influences your love relationships at the “Reel Love” HeartStories Girl’s Night out February 2nd in Frisco. We’d love for you to join us for a chat about how to Face Everything And Rise in your love relationships. Because heaven knows, we’re still learning to become the people who can do hard things. . . like marriage. 😉
You can learn more right here.
