Just imagine, you’re sat fat, dumb and happy when BAM! Your engine shits itself. (And so do you.) Suddenly you’re forced to divert. You need to get on the ground pronto!
Before you know it, there you are. Grounded with a bum engine – a million miles from the original destination you had in mind.
So, you find yourself sat around in your underpants on a Thursday afternoon scratching your whatsit wondering what to do with the rest of your life. (Probably not scratch your whatsit.)
After twiddling your thumbs you decide, at exactly 3:34 pm, you’re going to grab the day by the horns. So, you make a cuppa and sit down at your desk. After checking facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube and then facebook and twitter again, you begin typing.
All that thumb twiddling has given you a radical idea. (Actually, it’s given you many, but not all of them are suitable from younger readers.)
You decide that the time is now or never. After all, your wife is bringing home the bacon. You have no excuses. “No more thumb twiddling!” you say.
It’s down to business.
So, ladies and gentlemen, here I am. This time I’m really doing it. I’m committing. I’m going all in. I’m going to start by stating it out loud.
But first let me check facebook one more time. Oh look! Someone liked the photo of the coffee I made. (Yesterday’s main accomplishment.) Yay!
Anyway, back to this radical idea, this pet project of mine.
A book, damn it!
There, I said it. No backsies. I’m going to take my thumb out and write one. By announcing it out loud it I figure that
- a) you dear readers can hold me accountable and,
- b) give me some much needed feedback as I progress and, crucially,
- c) tell me how to actually write a book.
Because I don’t have the first clue!
Anyway, I guess I should start by telling you what my radical idea for this book is.
This tremendous book (title to be decided) will combine lessons in aviation (and life) with modern psychology (and a bit of ancient philosophy) in an attempt to help people hit the metaphorical reset button and rebuild their lives from the ground up.
The idea is to provide a roadmap for those who feel their lives have stalled – who feel lost and unsure about what direction to take – who feel overwhelmed and burnout out. (So yes, me.) It’s going to talk them through the stall recovery. The need to come back to earth in order to gain some much needed clarity and perspective. But also to regain the energy and lift needed to maintain a sustainable climb over the long haul. (Of course all of this will play to my strengths: long extended aviation metaphors.)
It will be broken down, roughly, into four parts.
- Section 1 will be entitled Grounded.
- Section 2 will be entitled Lift.
- Section 3 will be entitled Turbulence.
- Section 4 will be entitled Moral Compass.
Sections 3 and 4 will expand upon 1 and 2 respectively. A kind of beginners section and command section. This will possibly be spilt into two books (or a series of mini books). Anyway, this is just me spitballing – the basic idea I have in mind – all to be expanded upon in due time dear readers.
For now I just want to throw it out there and get your feedback on
- a) the idea itself and
- b) where the hell I should start? (From the ground up I suppose.)
Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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You can find more of AP2’s writing here at: https://wiseandshinezine.com
You can also find him on Medium at: https://anxiouspilot2.medium.com
You can also email him directly at: anxiouspilot2@gmail.com
Clear Air Turbulence 