I totally had to check myself for being a jerk at the airport this morning.
I was getting all judgmental and elitist with the holiday travelers. I am a very frequent traveler. Everyone who has followed me more than a couple months knows I rarely stay put.
From weekend conferences to year long road trips, I am good at efficient and calm travel. I know what to wear, how to pack, and the rules of how things work.
The airport was a madhouse at 5 am today. Just a complete zoo, seriously. At first glance it appeared all million people there had never seen an airplane before, let alone traveled anywhere.
Just craziness. The checked bag drop was just a mass of confusion, people with bags, NOT dropping them lol. Just holding them and milling about.
Security was like black Friday at Walmart. People were losing their minds. Line cutting, people about to miss flights yelling, dogs barking at each other.
I went through TSA behind a group of adults that were clueless. Belts, coats, boots, jewelry, laptops, water bottles…anything they could come up with to cause a delay, they had it.
I felt like the people at the gym on the first Monday in January LOL. Just like “Omg what are you doing here?!? Get out of my way”.
I almost just took a seat on the plastic tub stack and waited. Clearly I was gonna be here a while 😛
With all my new found free time behind clueless party of 4, I started to just look around. Not just to look, but to SEE.
I thought to myself: Wow Amber, ungrateful much?
Look around. Some of these people may have actually never been on a plane before. If they have, this might be the one time a year they ever get to travel. You may have seen more airports this month than they’ve seen in a lifetime.
This group ahead of you looks like siblings, and for all you know, they might be spending their first holiday without one of their parents. All of your family is alive and well.
The family to your right might be taking their kids to meet their grandparents for the first time. You grew up down the street from your whole family and spent every holiday with them.
Some of these people may have saved up all year to buy their plane ticket, and you just bought yours on a whim a few weeks ago, because you knew you could whenever.
These TSA people may have been working all night, for crappy pay, and this is the start of a crazy week for them. What did you do for work today…take a selfie? You made more money while you were sleeping than they made being up all night.
Plus, think of all the people that aren’t here. That have to work, have no money to travel, or no family to visit.
These are all just people, doing the best they know how, with what they have.
As I sat in my free upgraded first class seat, enjoying the miracle that is flying, above these gorgeous clouds, I thought about how much of an a$$**** I can be. It sat with me how easy it is to flip your own perspective with a little awareness and compassion.
Someone once said to me that the natural state of a garden is weeds. Just keeping the weeds out takes work, let alone growing flowers.
I live an incredibly blessed life, as does anyone who has an internet connection, power, and a phone / computer to read this.
It’s easy to forget how lucky I am, if I don’t actively choose to find reasons for gratitude.
I know it’s crazy out there right now. Travel, shopping, traffic, work, family visiting… I promise it’s not that big of a deal.
We all want the same things. Focus on what matters today, each other. <3