Life at 1000 Feet

Last week, my family and I got to fly in a hot air balloon over the city. We’ve had tickets for a couple of years now, but until last week, we had not found an ideal day when the weather conditions would allow us to fly safely. We had many cancellations, but then we finally chose a date, and the weather decided to cooperate.

I’ve flown on airplanes, helicopters, a paraglider, and a parasail. In all of those situations, there was a plan involved and a defined destination. You take off at one point, and you will land at a destination. A hot air balloon was different.

I can’t help but see similarities between a hot air balloon, life, and my career. Our flight highlighted a few important ideas to wrestle with.

When you prepare for a hot air balloon flight, you don’t know exactly where you’ll end up. The pilot has an idea of where the balloon will go, but ultimately, there are no hot air balloon runways or landing pads. The idea is to land in a field away from power lines. Intellectually surrendering to the truth that forces outside your control are guiding your journey can be freeing.

Each flight is unique, and each passenger experiences it differently. Aside from a few decisions, you have little control over where you’re headed. You’re also constrained by how much time you have to fly. The pilot explained that for every flight, he has between 50- 60 minutes’ worth of fuel and a small backup. This means, of course, that the flight can’t last indefinitely. The pilot must plan for a landing, and he can’t afford to waste precious time by not paying attention to what’s happening around us. And just like life, don’t waste your time believing you’ll have 100 minutes or more to seize the opportunity to do the things that are important to you. The fuel of life is limited for all of us.

Ideal weather conditions also mean you get to experience the city in the best circumstances, watching it come to life with the sunrise. What might be stressful at street level looks like exquisite clockwork from above. I was moved seeing trains, school buses, and bicycles traverse the city. As a writer, I’m struggling to articulate this properly, but there is something about humans in the grind of life that’s intricate and inspiring. The takeaway for me is that my grind is a part of something beautiful. In the midst of that, we should all take a moment to remember that we’re all a part of a bigger picture. And it is wonderful.

Thanks for reading, friend,

P.S I made a quick video of our flight here Enjoy!