It was one flight which left a deep scar in my psyche and put the fear of flying in me.  On a late night flight in a propellor aircraft, we met with severe air turbulence and the aircraft was as if being thrown up and down and sideways by such force, it appeared like a toy in the hands of some powerful force.  It included a sudden drop of maybe 100 ft. I suppose, with all the passengers frightened to their bone; screaming their lungs out for the ordeal to end.  It lasted almost 15 minutes and finally when we landed it was as though all of us had taken rebirth.

Fast forward – while post that ordeal ‘turbulence’ ever so little brought back memories and the tinge of fear in me, a similar experience brought an entirely new dimension towards my handling of ‘inner-fear’.

This time, I was travelling with my son on a holiday and it was his first flight.  We met with unexpected turbulence and a very similar situation.  However, this time around I was looking at my son and smiling at him, demonstrating a lot of courage in the face of adverse situation.  Not for a moment, I was reminded of the earlier ordeal.  In fact, I seemed to have enjoyed the whole process with my Son and we were quite literally laughing away at the sight of some of the frightened passengers clutching on to their seats.

So, what brought about this transformation in me?  Come to think of it, I did have some fear, however, I didn’t want my son to see me to be in a fearful, nervous and stressed state.  I wanted to project a confident ‘ME’ to him.  I told myself that I cannot for a moment show nervousness, or fear or stress lest he get frightened.  The interesting point is that I was able to ‘project’ this image very well.

Why was I able to do it?

The fact is that I felt a higher sense of ‘responsibility’ towards my son and his well being, which made me forget my own fears.

The lesson I learnt from this is that you can fight your fears, find your courage if you can find a ‘higher sense of responsibility’ in your life.

Go find it…..