Unexpected emotions...
https://youtu.be/FuCVQu43BNs
In less than 4 weeks I’ll be flying from New England down to Sun ’n Fun and when I looked at the map and envisioned my flight, a sudden whiff of anxiety blew through my heart:” Gee, you haven’t flown in almost 6 months, and now you want to go on a 1200 mile cross country trip? How is that supposed to work?”
“No problem”, says the internet, “ it’s easy and all is cool”.
Well, everything is easy and cool on the internet, but I’m talking about reality. And for some of us who don’t fly a lot, it is worrisome.
But I’m not going to let it stop me from taking this trip. I flew about 120hrs in less than two months last fall, and that’s probably more than many of the 170 owners fly in an entire year.
So where does this anxiety come from, what do I make of it or with it?
Maybe it has something to do with my advanced age? LOL
Because back in my soaring days, there were many years with a 6 months hiatus where I didn’t fly due to winter and/or prolonged periods of bad weather in late fall or early spring. Not once was I the least preoccupied before my first flight of the season. On the contrary, I could hardly wait to get airborne and chase thermals again.
Nor did I have the slightest trepidation when I hopped in my car after a long year of pandemic isolation.
So I decided to take that shot of anxiety as a nudge to go out and fly an hour or two with my instructor friend and then continue with some solo practice on nearby grass strips and get confident again.
That sounds like a lot of fun, actually, I’m really looking forward to it.
In the end it's all about managing emotions, and that has always struck me as an interesting challenge in my flying endeavors.