When it's time to land the plane


 

Thoughts

Flying gives me anxiety.

Well, actually, the process of getting to fly gives me anxiety. I love the lift off, the cruising through the air, the view from the window, and the sudden stop when we land on the ground. None of those things causes my palms to sweat or heart to race.

What gets me is the part where you stand in line, waiting to scan your ticket, show your ID, and walk through the scanners. The process of finding your gate and making sure you are in the right spot at the right time makes my shoulders tense and my breathing to go shallow. Questions loop through my head: Is my ticket correct? Am I in the right line? What if we don't get through in time and miss our flight? What if the machine rejects my ID? What if I set off the metal detectors? What if they find something in my bag that I didn't realize was there?

Can you relate?

As I near the kiosk where the security guard waits, I feel akin to a fugitive, trying my best to look normal and safe but sure they will call me out at any moment for some illegal activity.

I understand a bit of this is irrational. Although, I think it’s OK to have a healthy respect for the office of security and to do your due diligence to make sure you are following the rules. If, for the one reason of not holding up the line for everyone behind you. But the heart palpitations, sweaty palms, wobbly legs, and rising anxiety need not be part of it.






So, what do we do in these kinds of situations, when our mind starts to run away from us and we feel ourselves spiraling into irrational thought? Focus on what we know to be true. Go over the facts in your head. Replace the negative with a positive. Ironically, a friend of mine calls it “landing the plane.”

 A verse I keep tucked in my mind for times like these is the promise of Isaiah 26:3:

You keep him in perfect peace
    whose mind is stayed on you,
    because he trusts in you.

 I’m writing this just days before I take off on a cross-country flight. By the time you read this I will have already been through security and out on the other side. So often anxiety causes our vision to narrow. We focus on the one thing that causes us angst and cannot look past it. However, if we can thought-stop and take a moment to look past what is causing us the anxiety, we see that there is so much to be enjoyed and appreciated. When we take our eyes off of what is causing us stress and instead focus on the One who has it all in His hands, we can take a deep breath and know His peace.

 This week, look into your own experience with anxiety and irrational thought: 

  • What causes anxiety in your life? 
  • What is a scenario that drives you to irrational thought patterns and unhealthy responses? 
  • What words can you speak into those moments to help you land the plane and focus on the positive? 
  • What verses have you found helpful in those moments?

 

Get weekly inspiration and hope for living an 

Intentional Life delivered right to your inbox! 


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Tell me how you live intentional. I'd love to know!

Popular posts from this blog

The jig is up

Image
OK, I've kept it a secret for 6 months, but now that it's over, I'm bragging on my man. : ) Since April, Paul has been training to run the Columbus Marathon. We were able to get a few days off of work, grandparents watched the kids, and on Saturday morning Paul and I headed down to Columbus. We headed downtown to pick up his race packet and then spent the rest of the day and night with Ben, Jaime, and Alayna . Dark and early (5 AM) Sunday morning we rolled out of bed, Paul got geared up, and we headed downtown again to find a decent parking spot. Thankfully we found a good place to park and had Paul to the starting area at 6:30 AM (an hour before start). Ben graciously came along so I didn't have to wander around Columbus on my own -thanks, Ben! It was mid-30's at the start with a slight breeze, but skies were clear and the sun came out once it rose. Ben and I saw Paul off at the start and then headed to the halfway point (got some coffee along the way) and
Read more

Madeline Nichole Suvar

Image
The newest addition to our family came into this world on February 1st. She weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 19 inches long. She surprised us all with having black hair - Owen and Hannah were born with next to nothing for hair and even then it was real light. She impressed the doctors at the hospital by gaining back her birth weight and passing it by an ounce (a rarity, I guess). Our first day at home (today) went well. She was awake for most of the morning and through lunch and then took a nap in the afternoon. She nurses well and doesn't get upset by all the noise Owen and Hannah make. Hannah loves to come over and pat her on the head and Owen will talk to her and hold her hand. I am working on wrapping my mind around the fact that I am a mother of 3 - it makes me feel old! :) I'm healing well from my C-Section, the hardest part is forcing myself to stay put and letting Paul do things for me. He's a great nurse, cook, father, husband.... : )
Read more

Of loss and hope

Image
Thank you to those who have reached out to me, prayed for me, since my post on Sunday. I am humbled yet again by the love of Christ, and His followers. I spoke of hope. And truly I am learning more about hope as life goes on.  I understand it more than I did 10 years ago. And even now, this week, I feel I am seeing new dimensions of it that I did not know existed. I am a realist. With a small dose of optimism.  And I think that it is that sprinkling of optimism that is keeping me from swinging way over to the pessimistic side of things. Because I truly want things to work out, HOPE that things will work out.  But I keep my hand on the shift knob, because I just may have to throw things into a lower gear because well, I'm just hoping for things to work out, but kinda doubt they will. I hope that made sense to someone.  You may need to go back and read it.  I'll wait. .......... I think I live most of my life, and approach most circumstances, like that.
Read more