“Our choices can change the circumstances of our lives so stay calm, remain positive, and know exactly what your desired outcome is.”
It was a balmy summer day and I had been out flying with a friend. As the sun started to set, we began our return to the airport. My pilot indicated he was going to dip down to the river far below and we would skip the pontoons along the water and then fly back up into the sky. As the plane pummeled towards the earth, I didn’t have a care in the world – until the pontoons hit the surface of the water.
The plane flipped from nose to tail in an instant. My mind registered that the pilot was going under and I went to take a breath of air but my mouth filled with water. I was upside down, it was pitch black, cold, wet, and the plane was spinning.
I scrambled to release myself but instantly knew that I was trapped. My life-jacket was tangled within the 3-point harness and as I continued to try to escape, I could feel the last of my oxygen leave my limbs. That tingling sensation was familiar and I knew it too well from the swim team.
At that moment the thought crossed my mind, “I wonder if I am going to die.” My life began flashing in front of my mind’s eye – millions of images from my birth and throughout my life. And then, my focus moved beyond my life and into images of what could be my destiny.
I saw local police officers walking through my parents’ yard, up the big red brick stairs and knocking on that old wooden door… I saw my parents receiving the news that I was gone… I saw my mom collapsing, covering her head with her hands. I saw her scream…
The idea of her screaming rang through my mind, snapped me back into reality, and I made a vow: I was not going to do that to my parents. I was getting out of the plane and I was getting out now! Then, magic happened. All those pictures that had flashed forward, began to go in reverse. Back in time through hundreds of thousands of images, and then they stopped.
I’m here to tell you that even in life’s most dire circumstances, out of breath or out of time, we still have the ability to make choices. Often, we take what we are dealt because we doubt our ability, we doubt that we “can” and with those thoughts, we cheat ourselves of the life we truly deserve. Our choices can change the circumstances of our lives so stay calm, remain positive, and know exactly what your desired outcome is.
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