Want to Get Away? Why Flight Delays Are Chill

Who doesn’t love to get away? 

Get away from work, schedules, commitments, responsibilities… 

Let me guess, “loves to travel” is in your dating profile bio… 

However, when we think about traveling, we often think about the destination: the perfect beach with white sand as far as the eye can see, the iconic landmark, the snow capped mountain, the cobblestone streets of a quaint European village, endless food cooked with all local ingredients, or an Instagram-worthy sunset. 

That said, traveling also requires transportation, planning, and delays: meaning airports, language barriers, lost luggage, flight cancellations, and aimless wandering – clearly, not everyone’s cup of tea.

Just talking about the movement and logistical part of traveling makes someone like my mother very anxious. 

Okay, you might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with mastery?

Hang tight, we are getting there. 

It all starts when you wake up at an ungodly hour for that early morning flight. You’re groggy, disoriented, and probably questioning your decision to book such an early departure.

The airport is a maze of people, most of them half-awake just like you, fumbling through their belongings at the security line. You endure the awkward dance of removing your shoes, belt, and anything else the TSA deems worthy of a scan, all while hoping your supplements that your brought along doesn’t somehow trigger a full-body search.

You made it through... Oh wait, you realize you don’t have enough time use the restroom before boarding your flight…

Then there’s the flight itself. It’s hardly glamorous. You squeeze into a seat that seems designed for an infant. There’s a meal option—if you’re lucky—but let’s be honest, it’s more of an experiment in culinary endurance than the Michelin star cuisine you were hoping for.  You find yourself sitting next to someone who insists on chatting the entire flight, their topic of choice: politics. 

When you land, you’re not out of the woods yet. Now your luggage is nowhere to be found. You go to the baggage claim agent and try to figure out where in the world your stuff ended up.  You have to wait 3 more hours for your bag to show up. Once you finally get into a taxi, you realize you are no longer in an English speaking country as you try your hardest to communicate with the driver who doesn’t understand a word you are saying - turning what should be a simple ride into a game of charades.

All of this—the early wake-up, the discomfort, the lost luggage, the miscommunication—it’s easy to label as frustrating, inconvenient or as the “bad part.” 

Well, before writing Mastery Monday and creating an e-commerce business, I wrote a travel blog while backpacking around the world for nearly two years.

However, I rarely wrote about picturesque places I went to visit - and I visited many.

I primarily wrote about the seemingly mundane, the unplanned, and the hiccups I encountered along the way. These unexpected happenings that we often want to rush through, ignore, or forget, ARE THE STORY. 

What if, instead of viewing these moments as annoyances, you saw them as simply part of the process? What if you could savor them, understanding that there’s no such thing as a “good” or “bad” travel experience? It is the experience. 

The same applies to life. 

There are no inherently good or bad days—there are only days. 

It’s our perception and reaction that give them meaning. 

You can either embrace the messy, imperfect parts of life or resist them, but resistance comes with a cost. 

It blocks out parts of your experience, part of your life. 

Travel, like life, is a process. 

And every part of that process is meaningful if you choose to see it that way.

You can rush through the journey, blocking out the inconvenient or uncomfortable parts, or you can decide to savor each moment, good and bad.  

Well, what about that injury that prevented me from training jiu jitsu for 8 months?

What about that time you had no money and had to sell all the furniture in your apartment to pay rent?

What about that time you had to quit your job to take care of your parents?

What about that time you got fired, dumped, or dragged through the sand?

What about that time your flight got delayed and you missed your connecting flight and then your dinner reservation got canceled?

Dude, chill.

This is the story. 

It isn’t black and white, it’s an endless process towards the ‘things’ we work towards. 

And if you look at it that way, the falls, setbacks, hiccups, are sometimes the best freaking part.

Don’t miss out.

Romanticize the hell out of it.

Because eventually it ends.

Own the Process, 

Tim 

Author of Mastery Monday

Student & Founder