March 21, 2020 - 190 - "Work is Strong Medicine"

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Disclaimer:  Information changed quickly in the early days of Covid-19 (then known as Corona virus).  Please forgive comments that now seem lacking in, uh, judgement and/or empathy.

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Not Excited by the 'R' Word

     The idea of retirement has always sounded unpleasant to me.

     I've never quite been sure why.  I mean, I love my time off.  When it's time to go back to work it's not like I'm chomping at the bit to go.  I love being home.  I love being with Michael.  I actually dread going back to work on a fairly regular basis.  (Well, maybe dread isn't exactly the word...but, for sure, am always wishing I could push it off for another day or two.)

Don't Know What You've Got 'til It's Gone

     Yesterday on my flight I had such a transcendent feeling of well being.  I was on the cart with a very fun fellow-flight attendant.  I was helping people to get where they needed to be.  I was doling out drinks, a little levity, aspirin, information, and sympathy, according to the varied needs of the passenger on my flight.  And I felt very, very, happy.

     Disclaimer:  I do all of the above very imperfectly.  For sure there are plenty of moments when passengers get my goat.  (Like when I've worked to move everyone who wasn't traveling with someone to a seat with at least one empty seat next to them...and a few people insisted that they needed an entire row to themselves. )

  

    But, I realized, that nothing makes you feel better faster than a) getting busy (there's real truth in the old adage about idle hands, b) being of service to someone else, and c) getting the hell out of your own head...there should be an adage about idle brains being the devil's playground.

Appreciating What You Have

     I remember for a very long time after September 11, I remembered to be thankful for full flights.  (This feeling faded over time...since there is rarely anything other than full flights these days.)  But, this is all a good reminder that:  -Nothing is guaranteed.  -Passengers pay my salary.  I am grateful to them...even when I feel like I can't take a deep breath without running into one.



   I'm not only appreciating passengers, I'm appreciating that I'm in the 'Critical Workers' category and am allowed...encouraged...begged, even...to go to work.  

     Because, as it turns out:  I really like to work.  (Maybe not a high-time schedule, maybe not always on the really long, really full days...). But, overall, I am grateful to have a job to go to, and one that, for the most part, I really like to do. 

     Also:  Years of alternating time at home with time on the road makes me have a nervous, claustrophobic feeling when I've stayed home too long.  I just want to go somewhere.  This feeling has been multiplied by being home and unable to go anywhere.

    I hope I get to keep on coming and going for a long time to come.

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"Flow is a state of being when we are completely focused, and fully immersed in what we are doing.  In flow our work seems effortless, creativity goes into overdrive, we feel inspired, and motivation springs forth from within."

-Drago Bratasanu

---"Love what you do.  Do what you love."

-Wayne Dyer

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"Come fly with me, 

Come fly, come fly away, 

If you could use some exotic booze, 

There's a bar in far Bombay..."

-Sammy Cahn

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