Back to writing a blog after a long time which is weird considering so many things happened in the past 15 months or so which includes excitement of getting doctoral degree, new job, and new place and in more ways than one a new life.
One my trip to NY state for a short business trip, I happened to go through an interesting event and feel tempted to share. The whole idea of sharing my idea through blogging is 1- to see take of different curious minds and 2- if we can learn something from each other’s experience.
Flying as usual is boring and not so boring at the same time. There is not much to do overall which makes it boring but getting away from you daily routine makes it not so boring. Anyways I did not find direct flight so had a 3 hr layover in Minneapolis. Well things were going normal until I found out that on my way from Minneapolis to Albany, the person sitting next to me is a 350+ pound person. Well obviously I felt disappointed but as I sat, only been able to sit in 20% of the seat available to me I felt at times betrayed by the airlines. Comfort zone is one thing but not able to sit properly and straight for something you paid full price for, grew into extreme frustration. Different questions engulfed my mind as I still trying to barely hold on to my seat. Questions such as 1- Should airlines have special seats for such people? 2- What if another heavy person was given my seat, how would airlines deal with the situation? 3- Should the lady buy 2 tickets as that’s the space she was effectively using? 4- Why is she not able to control her diet and exercise habit, I get up an hr early just so that I can exercise and keep myself in shape? 5- What is she has some disease and her weight is not her fault? An hr passed by amidst all these ‘nowhere to be found answer type’ questions and my frustration grew stronger as my tired body (butts) was still looking for some space. There is no way that lady could do anything about it, so I did not bother asking her for some more space to me.
While I closed and eyes and took breath, something occurred to be and I felt like maybe I am being tested for who I am in person, I knew it’s not the best moments which reflect your personality but it’s the tough ones where you real self comes out. From extreme negative, I started to gather all the possible positive things I could think of to make myself at ease with the situation, while still been able to hang on to my seat. I thought complaining is justifiable and is fun at times, but this is not the right time. If I wish to live a good life and take pride in helping people, this is my chance. I started wondering for me it’s a rare chance to be in such uncomfortable situation but she has to deal with herself all the time and it must be very embarrassing for her to go out. It makes sense now why she was avoiding eye contact as she knew her presence is uncomfortable for me. I also questioned my reasoning for her to be overweight, it could be due to many things I do not understand and do not know. I still felt Airlines should have couple of spl. seats for them but overall I started developing some sort of sympathy for her and my physical unease transformed to something that I did not feel bad about. My next goal was to make eye contact and smile so that she doesn’t feel bad anymore because I knew my reaction until now was the same thing she has been seeing all her life. Once I was able to do that, I thought to myself, may be talking few words would make her feel even better. While I was still waiting for that moment, my plane landed safely and it was time to leave. I was not able to talk to her but I smiled again before we both got off the plane.
Being ‘aware’ of (1) what your mind is going through and (2) what you expect out of yourself does help. Not only I was able to give few good moments to her but saved myself of another 2 hrs of frustration. I felt life tests you in unexpected moments and I think I passed this time.
