697. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.
It is not lost on me that I’m unable to get back to Seattle. The initial flight delay set off a ripple of stand-by lists with actual guaranteed seats on planes 2 to 3 days from now. I waved the white flag, let go of what I thought was so important, and decided not to spend 3 days in airports. Instead, I went on a road trip. I made a run for Omaha, renting a car and driving seven hours, into and through a white-out-snow-blowing-so-that-I-followed-the-tail-lights of the car ahead of me because I literally could not see the road. I talked with friends on the phone while I drove. I had hours of silence and quiet. I saw a part of America that I don’t often see because I fly over it instead of drive through it.
When I looked at the ticket agent and said, “I’d rather not wait in the airport,” she thought I was nuts. How could I make the decision to walk away? She said, “But, we can’t change and itinerary, we can’t transfer your flight to another city. You’ll have to buy another ticket.”
“That’s exactly right,” I thought. I would rather go off the reservation and drive, not knowing when or where I will find a portal into Seattle. Spending 3 days of my life sitting in an airport waiting for the smallest possibility of a seat on a plane seemed crazier than walking out of the airport and asking, “Well, what’s next?” I’ve spent too much of my life waiting for something to happen. I no longer have it in me. The ticket agent had a rule to follow and I realized that I did not. Rather, I have one rule and my rule is: don’t wait.
I have a mantra new to this year. It wasn’t a resolution; it just seemed to find its way in: Act. Try. Aim. In other words, practice what I preach: step into the unknown as a way of being, not as a once in a while activity. Act. I don’t need to know where I am going before I take a step. If something seems to take life from me, walk the other way. Try. See what happens. And then aim.
I now have a seat on a plane out of Denver on Wednesday. I will have driven or trained halfway to Seattle before getting on a plane. I’m having adventures, spending time with people I love, and not knowing what tomorrow holds. And, I am certainly more alive now than I would have been had I decided to sit and wait for my name to be called. “Isn’t it time.” I thought as I left the airport in my rental car, “that I started calling my own name.”
Filed under: Awakening, Gratitude, Possibility, Truly Powerful People | Tagged: adventure, change, self-love |
The Direction of Intention 
[[HUG]]
🙂
As always I cheer you on dear one, I cheer you on!
Thank you!
Call your own name, David. Love that. Big hugs to you, and if you find yourself driving through Salt Lake, be sure to call. 🙂
I will do! I hope it happens sooner than later 😉
this is amazing, great action. I really really love this. Reminds me of thinking Bob and I created when we moved to the East Coast, often not knowing how to get from this major city to the next one as we wandered around looking the world over. We decide we are never lost just somewhere we haven’t been before or revisiting somewhere we have been. Love this ne Mantra: ACT
…and I love the thought of never being lost but just somewhere you’ve never been! Perfect!
The “having spent too much of my life waiting for something to happen” resonated, but it’s the “no longer have it in me” that made me stop in my tracks. I no longer have it in me I no longer have it in me. It just kept repeating and repeating and repeating. I wrote it on paper, I wrote it on my wall, I wrote it in the steam on my bathroom mirror. It seems it’s been in there for some time, it has now been set free, as have I. I know I must be, but I must also do….it’s the dance of life to the tune do be do be do. We hear what we hear when we need to hear it. Thank-you for saying it.
Thank you for mirroring it back to me.