#195 Self-Management in Tough Times

I felt that it is in difficult times that one's true personality comes out. After all, it is the our day-to-day self-management that appears in everything we say and do. It’s been a long time since I have flown internationally, and I will share what I saw from an incident that happened on one of the flights. ✈️

I am in Hawaii to see my family for the first time in 4 years, and there was an incident that happened on my connecting inter-island flight.

The international flight from Tokyo was fine, but the incident started when a problem was found with the aircraft during the inter-island transfer.

The flight took off on-time, and after about 30 minutes, a simple announcement was made.

”There is a problem with the aircraft and we will be turning back."
😨

The announcement was quite inaudible due to the fact that we were up in the air. Normally, there should have been a few more announcements, but until the very end, there was only this one announcement.

After arriving at the airport, we were told to check everything at the customer service counter and no flight attendant could give us any information.

The reactions of those who were thrown out of the plane were incredibly varied. Some reacted calmly, saying it couldn’t be helped, others communicated with others around them to understand the situation, and still others took their anger out on the airline.

Observing this in these other passengers and the airline staff, I think there was a clear distinction on whether the arrow of communication was pointing toward oneself or others.

What helped me in my exhausted state was the smiles of some of the people on the flight with me. In such a chaotic situation, they calmly gathered information and communicated with others around them. It is precisely in times like these that I think self-management is really important.

Are there any things that you are aware of when you are in a difficult situation? Also, what actions or reactions do you take when you are in a situation that is out of your control?

I saw many layers of the human psyche through this incident on my first flight in a long time. You never know what lessons each day will bring, especially when traveling.

I will be taking it easy this week for the first time in a long time with my family after a busy couple of weeks.

I wish you all a week with many more smiles 😊