Bangkok, Thailand
I am typing these words 36,000 feet above the Indian Ocean.
So far so good as far as a lack of turbulence.
This smooth flight feels good. I enjoy a largely turbulent-free ride.
A recent flight from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi did not follow quite the same path.
Far from being an actual rough flight, it was bumpy fairly often. I do not relish such flights because settling in to sleep, eat or enjoy movies feels challenging with mild turbulence being frequent. I liken it to someone routinely shaking you to wake up the moment you feel ready to doze off. But replace the human with upper air gusts 36,000 feet above terra firma in a steel tube.
Plane turbulence teaches you smart blogging lessons too, ya know?
Check out these analogies to accelerate your blogging success by learning from plane turbulence.
Go with the Flow
Tensing my body – sometimes reactively – makes discomfort increase during turbulence.
Even mild bumps feel uncomfortable if tensed.
Why?
Fighting the flow creates resistance. Resistance leads to a less pleasant experience.
I have flown over 150 times. Unless a rollercoaster type dip greets me I feel fairly comfortable.
However, less frequent or flat out nervous fliers tense up, grasp the arm support with a vice grip and enhance the bumpiness by fighting the flow, holding their ground – and tension – from a deep fear of turbulence.
I vividly recall one nervous flier during a flight from Bangkok to Koh Lanta. He panicked during mild turbulence, seizing both arm rests for dear life. As you can imagine it was no pleasant flight as we traveled during monsoon season. He flipped out during light turbulence because fear in his mind scared him into tensing up, fighting the flow and making the experience far worse, unpleasant and flat out frightening.
Fighting the flow makes the experience unpleasant.
Chilling out, relaxing and releasing tension allows the body to follow the turbulent shimmy and shakes of the plane.
As a blogger, go with the blogging flow. Observe what feels fun. Check out what seems to be working. Be less rigid. Be flexible.
Struggling bloggers fight the flow. Failing bloggers mindlessly follow blogging rules. Each resistant habit promotes blogging misery.
Stop on a dime. Open your mind to new strategies. Meet new bloggers. Be ready for opportunities. Seize and use the blogging moment to be truly helpful.
Going with the blogging flow makes for a fun, freeing and pleasant blogging experience just like going with the turbulent flow.
Success finds flexible bloggers.
Sear that idea onto your mind to be an open, prospering blogger.
Think About the End Game
Some people fear turbulence enough to rarely or flat out never fly anywhere.
Can you imagine not experiencing places like Fiji, Bali, Thailand and Costa Rica because you fear bumping about to and fro for a few moments on a flight? Turbulence is actually quite rare compared to smooth flying. In most cases, flying is similar to riding a train in many regards. Minus the short ascent, descent and infrequent turbulent moments you just cruise along peacefully.
I do not jump for joy during rare moments of big dips or being whipped a wee bit left to right. Nor did I enjoy my recent bumpy flight with mild but frequent turbulence, also a rare experience.
But I would not miss the opportunity to enjoy Bali, Thailand or Oman for 1 month because 1, 10 or 20 minutes of bumpiness makes for a less pleasant flight.
See the blogging end game in mind during particularly turbulent blogging stretches.
Most get shaken out by traffic or income droughts due to not having a vision. Struggling bloggers cannot see past temporary lulls to a lifetime of fun and freedom through blogging.
Future pros create a vision to see an end game of fun, freedom and a fulfilling blogging career either circling the globe or spending time at home with your family.
See beyond a few temporary moments of blogging discomfort to a lifetime of freedom through the medium.
As a rule, most human beings live in a fear called “survival mode”. Most never see beyond their fears to do something incredibly fun. Even fewer go within to ferret out vision-strangling fears to create a clear vision as a compass for their lives.
Check out the world. Do you see how it largely avoids facing fear? Do you see how aversion scares the masses into living unhappy, unfulfilling lives of despair and/or distraction?
Let go of this mental conditioning.
Face your fears. Forgive these emotions. Build a clear blogging vision to see the end game.
Seeing the end game clearly helps one navigate through the fear, obstacles and struggles inevitable on a hike toward lifetime freedom.
You will put in work and face fear if your love of freedom becomes strong enough in your mind.
Embrace the Rare Big Dips
The only sensation which bothers me on a plane are the super rare but highly uncomfortable big dips.
The accompanying “stomach in the throat” sensation feels quite bad to me.
But I can count on one hand the genuine dips – which are in reality 2-4 feet – I’ve experienced after flying around 150 times.
After spending 100’s of hours flying I recall perhaps 3-4 sharp, surprising dips eliciting a “Ohhhhh!” from a few folks on the plane, including me. Does trading a dream life for 4 seconds of discomfort sound wise? Or does embracing 4 second’s worth of intense moments seem worth a lifetime of freedom?
I accept that a lifetime of globe trotting freedom and happiness comes with the super rare but uncomfortable, rollercoaster type dips one experiences during a bit stronger turbulence.
Blogging is no different.
Professional bloggers enjoy the peace, fun and flat out freedom of running an online business. But the white screen of death, delinquent clients, Google algorithm updates and corrupt plug-ins greet bloggers here and there.
Each incident proves to be highly rare but needs to be embraced as part of the blogging journey.
Freedom sometimes arrives dovetailed to a few deep fears.
Accept this truth to glide with increasing ease through your blogging journey.
Focus on your fun, freeing vision. Allow your blogging passion to pull you through problems.
Passionate bloggers ease through obstacles gracefully because love defeats fear every time.
Only vision-less bloggers quit for the prospect of facing rare, uncomfortable moments.
See your blogging dream in vivid detail. Fall in love with the idea of whatever your blogging dream is to own how tough obstacles do pop up from time to time.
Focus heavily on what you do want to look past what you do not want.
Conclusion
Life teaches memorable blogging lessons.
Consider these analogies between plane turbulence and blogging to boost your online success.
