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Bryan Marcel: I Don't Run For Airplanes

I used to get stressed out about situations that I couldn't control. I learned how to relax and stay calm. The stress and anxiety level is no longer there.

Author: Bryan Marcel

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Hakuna Matata is a Swahili saying that means “there are no worries”. Disney's The Lion King made that saying famous. It's so easy to say, and in practice it actually is very easy to achieve. It’s a mindset. Up until about two years ago, like most people, I did not posses that mindset. It was taught to me. My girlfriend was going back to California from the east coast to visit with her family. On the way she had a layover in Phoenix. When she landed in Phoenix she sent me a text message on my cell phone that read “Just landed in Phoenix. I have ten minutes to catch my next flight”. I looked at that, and like most people in that same situation in a busy airport like Phoenix, I thought and responded with “You better run, you're not going to make your flight”.

About a minute later she sent another text message to me that really changed my life. It read, simply, “I don't run for airplanes. There will be another one”. If you take that statement at face value, you kind of have to chuckle. But if you look deeper into that statement you realize that that is a state of mind. I don't run for airplanes. I don't get in a hurry. I'm not going to rush. I'm not going to run people over. There will be another airplane. And there will be another airplane. She is absolutely correct. She didn't get on that airplane ten minutes later to California. She got on the next flight about an hour later. She didn't get stressed out. Her blood pressure didn't go up. She didn't get in a hurry. Her life remained very relaxed.

I don't run for airplanes. I've tried to apply that principle to everyday life. What it boils down to is you have to pick your battles. The best way to reduce stress is to decide what is important and what isn't important. Then set aside enough time in your life, plan well enough that you’re not rushed, that you’re not in a hurry. If I need to go to the airport and I know that it takes me an hour to get ready I will start and hour and half early so that I can have a leisurely drive to the airport. Even if it's in rush hour traffic, for me it will be a relaxed and leisurely drive. So while everyone else is speeding by, cutting each other off, racing to be first to the next red stop light and stressing out that they are not going to get where they are going on time, I've actually given myself enough time to where that thought never even enters my head. I know that I will be on time. Whether there is an accident or a delay, I will be on time. And the result from that mind-set is amazing. You stay in a very relaxed state of mind. Calm. Peaceful. Relaxed. I am trying to apply “I don't run for airplanes” to every single area of my life. Not getting stressed out, not letting things work me up, not letting things get under my skin, not letting things really bother me. If you can do that, if you can just keep everything in perspective—aware of what is really important and what isn't—then life actually becomes the wonderful journey that it was intended to be. As the great philosopher (tongue in cheek) Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it”.

A few weeks ago I got challenged to see if my “I don't run for airplanes” mantra really works. I frequently travel to Dallas, Texas. So often, in fact, that I keep a truck at the airport. A few months ago I flew in on an early morning flight. I'm a night person by nature, so I was kind of on the wrong side of the clock. I'm used to going to bed late at night (1-3am) and sleeping about eight to nine hours (what my body requires). This particular morning I had gotten up very early, so I didn't have much sleep, only about three hours. I went to the airport and hopped on an American Airlines flight to Dallas. I can't sleep on airplanes. It has nothing to do with flying. I just can't get comfortable enough to sleep. I arrived to a dark rainy morning in Dallas. I got on the bus that would take me to the parking lot where I keep my truck. The parking lots in Dallas Fort Worth airport are vast and they all look exactly alike. Because of that, I always park in the same area along a sidewalk. I get off the bus, walk to the last row, turn right and walk until I find my truck. It works every time. It wasn't going to work that day. I got off the bus in the rain at my stop, walked out to where my truck should be parked, but it wasn't there. I walked a little further, thinking maybe I parked out a little further than I normally do. I walked until there were no more cars.

I was baffled. I stood there in the middle of a vast parking lot as the cold rain fell on me. That sinking feeling began to settle in. Where was my truck? I wondered. Was it stolen? Had it been towed? I had no idea. I walked back to the bus stop still looking in vain for my truck. Nothing. It just wasn't there. While riding the bus back to the airport terminal I sent a text message to my girlfriend. I wrote “my truck is not here”. And she wrote back “what are you going to do?” I responded “I guess I will go look again, and if I can’t find it, then I will rent a car”. On the way back to the airport terminal I was retracing my steps in my head. I started thinking that all of the bus stops really do look identical. I wondered if I had gotten off at the wrong bus stop. Once I was back at the terminal I started the process over. So the next bus came around I got on it and once again journeyed out to the parking lots. Sure enough, in the dark early morning rain I had gotten off at the wrong bus stop. It looked exactly the same as the one that I normally get off at, but it wasn't. I walked out to where my truck should have been parked, and there it was! I was proud of myself that day, because I don't run for airplanes.

I didn't know where my truck was that morning. I didn't know if it was stolen or towed. I had no control over the situation. But I didn't let it stress me out. I didn't let it upset me. I had no control over it. There was nothing that I could have done. Getting upset, angry or frustrated would have solved nothing. Knowing that, I kept calm, stayed relaxed and retained the ability to think the situation through. Because I had a clear head I ultimately found my truck, exactly where I had put it, two weeks earlier. I will never run for airplanes.

About Author

I am an average ordinary guy. Up until a few years ago I also looked like an average ordinary guy. I had “the belly”. So, I set out to lose twenty pounds and like the majority of people I found that the most accepted advice was worthless. I have always had an entrepreneurial drive, which means I don't give up. I did tons of research (I still do. I love to learn.) and came to the conclusion that almost everything that we have been taught about health and nutrition is pretty much wrong. I then set out to find the correct facts. I persevered in this search and discovered much. I then applied (to myself) what I had discovered. Since then I have lost thirty pounds, three and a half inches from my waist and no longer need four prescription medications. I have learned so much about health and nutrition and I want to share it with the world.

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