You might call Evelyn Johnson, “Wonder Women.”
She works seven days a week, and puts in eight hour days as a flight instructor in Morristown, Tennessee. She rousts herself out of bed at 6 AM, except for Sundays when reveille comes at 5:30. Flying every day, she seems to have the energy of an Eveready battery.
But today is different. As she drives to church, the morning sun gets in her eyes. Momentarily blinded, she fails see the semi at the stoplight, slams into, and under it, shaving the top of her car. With multiple contusions and a severed leg, the accident darn near kills her.
As a friend and fellow flight instructor, I begin to call her, to follow her progress. She always answer the phone by the second ring.
But today there’s no answer…
Fearing I may have lost my good friend, as well as the world’s oldest flight instructor and Aviation Hall of Fame icon, I call the front desk of her managed care home. Sure enough, the receptionist relays the news. “I’m sorry…she’s gone,” she says.
My chest tightens. That beautiful, high-spirited woman, suddenly gone… why didn’t I call earlier? I never even got to say good-bye.
A moment later, the receptionist interrupts my reminiscent trance, and finishes her sentence, “…but she’ll be back at five.”
I sit by the phone. At 5 PM sharp, I speed-dial Evelyn.
Second ring…”Hello?”
“Evelyn?? …Where the heck have you been?”
“Well for gracious sakes alive John, I’ve been at the airport…working! Where did you think I was?”
Your mindset will calm the storm.
Evelyn thumbed her nose at her misfortune.
Indeed, when asked how she manages her new condition, she doesn’t miss a beat, “The shorter leg slows me down some…but I’ve got a prosthesis on back order!”
In the face of challenge, Ev allowed nothing to alter her state of mind. Despite a crushing hardship, Evelyn remained grounded in her faith and can-do attitude. This mental mindset is not reserved for the gifted. With a little effort, you can tap your positive powerhouse. In fact, it’s an invaluable skill to have at the ready.
Be aware of the stall-spin-crash n’ burn set up
Sooner or later, most of us get sucker-punched. Failed business, divorce, layoff, cancer, death of a loved one, car accident, or any change serious change, can render us numb and dispirited.
it’s human nature. You’re going to be shaken. Should any other misfortune visit us, even to the smallest degree, it can be seen as confirmation that “everything is going to hell”. The result? We start to slide down the slippery slope of pessimism and pity, till we approach a full blown lifestyle stall. We see this sad situation everyday in the form of drug addition, homelessness, suicide and crime. “What the hell, why try?” we say. It’s a perfect crash and burn set up.
Flight Lesson #1: Add power!
Instead of throttling back, and convalescing your pain with pills, booze or other negative lifestyle survival tactics, you need to immediately power up. In other words, recognize the truth about the situation: Yes, you’ve been dealt a blow. But you are also stronger than you think. Much stronger. Through an innate capacity to survive and thrive, you are equipped to handle any sucker-punch that comes your way. It may take a mountain of tough-love self-talk, but the objective is to pull up, regroup and buy time to re-stabilize. You’re simply in the process of talking yourself up…not down. Once you do that, it’s time for lesson two.
Flight Lesson #2: Ride it out!
Once you realize the fact that you can and will handle the situation, the following three tips will guide you to ride out your storm:
- Hunker down. Expect some turbulence to come into your life. It’s a normal part of the game. Treat it as if it’s part of your profession. You’re the pilot. Now navigate the storm with no doubt as to its successful outcome.
- Deviate to appreciate. If going through tough times, change the scenery. Go for a walk. Talk to a friend. Work out. Go to a movie. Work in the garden, garage or somewhere you can get your hands dirty. What your doing is changing your outward visual state, which will influence your internal state.
- Write on!. It’s a proven, hard cold fact of life. You become what you think about. So when you feel yourself backsliding into your dilemma, pull out a pen, and force yourself to put SOLUTIONS down on paper. Write, and write fast! Do not judge the practicality or correctness of the solutions just yet. In the process, you will find magic in method. Ideas will surface. Hope will spring up.
Flight Lesson #3: Blue skies follow every storm
If things are off-the-wall-crazy, it’s natural to think it’s a forever deal. But will your troubles last? Not a chance. Look around you. It’s a law of nature. With time, things calm down and stabilize. Even a category 5 hurricane has no chance of enduring. It will weaken and move on. It’s your job to understand the nature of the beast. And the beast can be beaten. It’s even prophesied in the Bible…”this too shall pass.”
Therefore, know that a clearing trend is coming your way. Hang in there. Things will stabilize and get better. It’s virtually guaranteed.
Regardless of your current turbulent, wild ride, cinch up, hunker down, and hold on! Stay the course. Burning blue sky is waiting on the far side of the cloud.
Ev was a modern-day Wonder Woman,and one of the most fascinating pilots I’ve had the good fortune to know as a fellow flight instructor, mentor and friend. But in addition to this, she had a killer sense of humor, and indomitable, tough-as-nails spirit.
At 96, Evelyn was in a serious automobile accident. Sunday morning, on the way to church, the sun got in her eyes approaching an intersection. She plowed into, and under,a semi. Ev sustained multiple contusions and lost the lower part of her leg.
I called her residence one afternoon, concerned about her now, obvious frail condition. She usually picked up the phone on the first ring. This time, no answer at all. I called the front desk. The receptionist answered, and conveyed the bad news I was so dreading to hear.
“I’m sorry, she said. Evelyn, is gone.
I kicked myself. Why couldn’t I have called my friend sooner? Why did I have to procrastinate? Life is too short to put things off.
A moment later, the receptionist chirped in a sweet, Tennessee drawl, “But she’ll be back at five…”
At 5:03 PM, I speed dialed Tennessee.
Evelyn picked up on the first ring. I must have conveyed some surprise as I immediately questioned her, “Evelyn, where the heck have you been?”
“Why gracious sakes alive John, I been at the airport…working. Where did you THINK I was?”
John Tillison and Evelyn Johnson at the
National Aviation Hall of Fame
What’s the message here? Simply this: the effort you put into seeking your passion can easily repay you a lifetime. You must continually strive to seek ideas and experiences both inside and outside your current occupation.
Look at your job as you would any relationship. Is it productive? Does it bring out the best in you, or does it squeeze every ounce of energy, hope, and life from you?
If you dislike your job, by all means, do something about it. Ask yourself, is my heart into this? And if not, how can I find a way to improve my situation? Instead of looking for the proverbial greener pasture, is it possible to engineer some challenge, change, and passion into what I’m currently doing? In order to find creative solutions, you must be free of cynicism and open your mind up to more thumbs up thinking.