--- id: flying-free-01-steady-as-you-go title: Chapter 1 – Steady as You Go category: Book Chapter predicted_narrative_arc: fall-and-recovery sentiment: Hopeful emotions: - resilience - determination - hope keypoints: - Eagle metaphor shows instinctive recovery from free-fall - Maintain control to find hidden opportunity in crisis - Personal tragedies can lead to unforeseen opportunities - Pilot training parallels learning to handle emergencies - Eaglets learn strength through premature falls before full independence summary: Chapter 1 introduces the eagle falling from its nest as the central metaphor for handling life crises like cancer, job loss, or death of a loved one. The author shares lessons from his own experiences to help readers maintain control during free-fall moments and turn problems into opportunities for growth and new purpose. The chapter emphasizes that crises can strengthen us and prepare us for God's intended path rather than leading to devastation. tags: - childhood - family - faith - work - warmth - conviction - eagle-metaphor - crisis-opportunity - life-lessons - personal-growth - flying-free sycophancy: 1 truth_score: 8 entropy: 3 updated: '2026-09-08T20:49:36Z' vault_stage: 07_CODEX headwaters: COMPA prefix: COMPA enrich_status: ok enrich_blockers: [] enrich_method: llm pipeline_filename: COMPA_2026-09-08_chapter-1-steady-as-you-go.md proposed_topic: Stories lane: Stories description: Unseen opportunities often hide inside personal crisis. Dean Rush opens the book with the powerful image of a young eagle falling from the nest and learning to fly. corpus_topic: Stories --- # Chapter 1 ## Steady As You Go – Unseen Opportunities **Full book:** https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md --- ### Context for the Reader This opening chapter introduces the central metaphor of the entire book: the young eagle that falls from the nest, appears completely out of control, and yet instinctively spreads its wings and returns. Dean uses this image to show that crisis does not have to end in devastation. The free-fall moments of life — cancer, job loss, the death of a loved one, financial collapse — can become the very experiences that strengthen us and prepare us for the purpose God has prepared. The chapter sets the tone for Section I (“Analyze the Situation!”) by teaching the first critical skill: **maintain control long enough to see the opportunity hidden inside the problem**. --- Personal tragedy such as the untimely death of a loved one, an unimagined diagnosis, or the unpredicted loss of a job can put our lives out of control. Instead of leading to devastation, however, these challenges can often lead to unforeseen opportunities and result in a path to achieving long-sought dreams. My intent in writing this book is to relay some of the lessons I learned as I have traveled life’s highway. Hopefully, the book will help you avoid some of the turmoil during the times you are in a free fall and possibly assist you to fly free of your problems. Perhaps it will help you avoid a crash landing when you finally come down to earth. We all find personal methods of recovering from crisis, but a crisis can also be a great opportunity for finding a new future. The student pilot learns many necessary actions and principles to safely operate a plane during preparation to become a qualified aviator. In addition to learning the basics of fair weather flight, a pilot learns how to manage an aircraft in emergency situations. The objective for a pilot is to maintain aircraft control. Flight is best illustrated by the emperors of the air, the eagle. If you are enthralled with the freedom of flight, as I am, one of the most majestic sights in the world is to see a mature eagle drop off its nest high on a cliff or at the top of a tree. The eagle stands on the edge of the nest, stretches those majestic wings six to seven feet and then lifts above the surrounding tree and flies off on its mission. Baby eagles (eaglets) are quite a different story as they spend their first days of life out of the egg waiting to be fed. They soon begin bobbing around the confines of the nest searching for a way to fly free and become independent. Eagles seem to be constantly searching for freedom as they grow and mature. They are very interesting animals because they are mobile, they are bold, and they are monogamous—they partner for life. Eagles protect their habitat in every possible manner and vigorously protect their young. Not too different from us as humans in many ways. If you watch the nest as the young eaglets hatch, you would see them begin jumping up and down in the nest within a month of hatching. They begin standing at the edge of their nest as if to say “I am ready for the world” as soon as they can walk. They are obviously not ready for what awaits them in the world below, but they are anxious to show what they are made of. Their parents watch closely as the young birds begin to flex their wings and stretch to leave the confines of the nest. At about three months of age the eaglets have achieved the full growth of their wings but the wings are more down-filled than feathered, so flying would be tough without the full airfoil development in the wing. When the birds do leave in this stage of maturity some unexpected actions occur. If the young eagle leaves prematurely, there is a moment when the bird falls free of the nest and it appears totally out of control while it tumbles through the air falling toward the earth. Amazingly, this is not the end of the story because in nearly all the observed cases where the birds prematurely fall from the nest they do recover and almost always return to the nest. If you continue watching the eagle as it falls, an amazing phenomenon takes place. The bird tentatively opens its wings and rights itself; then it fully spreads its magnificent wings to fly; it works diligently to get back to the nest. As we watch, we begin to perceive the eagle will be able to achieve its objective and fly under its own strength. However, the young eagle doesn’t go far, as some instinct bids them to return to the nest where parents again take over until the feathers are fully formed and the hunting training begins. The crisis turns into a learning experience and a strengthening incident in the life of the young bird. The eagles somehow grow stronger during their remaining period of development in the nest. They reach a point at six to seven months when they move out with their peers to newfound freedom. At that point in its development the eagle appears to have everything under complete control. The bird has the strength to fly away, pick the direction of travel and the height to which it wants to climb. How do we compare to this magnificent bird as we seek to find our freedom and mission in life? Now the young eagle is completely free of all the encumbrances that bind it to earth. Prior to flying free there is a tie to the nest that restricts the bird to its immediate surroundings. The nest holds some security but it also restricts the eagle’s ability to search for food, drink from a clear stream, or glide on a stream of air that can carry it to new adventures and even a new life. When that bird leaves the nest it is free to fly and survey the world. It will have learned the necessary lessons through experience to deal with the world and the problems it will encounter. Like the young eagle, I have encountered learning experiences when I least expected them. When crisis strikes your life and some cataclysmic event upsets your security, the first reaction is often to ask, “Why me?” You may feel like the out-of-control eagle for a time, and it would feel much better back in the nest with the security that you felt before the crisis appeared that upset your life. Throughout my life I often remember being in a comfort zone with everything rocking along, enjoying the good life. Suddenly things changed from no worries to crisis mode without warning. Some completely unexpected event turned the world upside down. In mid-life my surprise came from the Agent Orange cancer that had remained dormant for years after I returned from combat. For others it may come in the form of the death to a loved one, a devastating accident, or financial loss. Whatever the event, life often requires a change of direction. A new flight plan must be organized. Why does tragedy strike when we least expect it? Why did that crisis happen to me? Did I do something wrong? Suddenly everything I had known that was a source of security became insecure. What seemed stable is now a cause for self-doubt. Everything you have known as normal seems to disappear. Nothing in the world seems normal. Have you been in that situation? The more pertinent question is, are you there right now? What is happening to me? What now? Most of the tragedies that happened to me began to take on the aspects of terror just as they did to a young eagle. I felt the need to regain control and figure out how to maintain control so that life could go forward. Don’t you imagine that the first time that young eagle left the nest, that he was terrified? Eagles, like humans, sometimes teach their children to fly by actually kicking them out of the nest and requiring them to fend for themselves as they develop the art of flight. The eaglet spends the first three to four months of life being taken care of in the nest. Mom and dad take turns flying to the area surrounding the nest to capture fish or fowl to feed the young babies. The parents each spend hours foraging for food and returning to the nest with provisions to strengthen the young birds so that when the time is right their eaglets are ready to fly on their own. If the young eaglets never flex their wings and if they remain in the nest, they will never achieve independence. They must try new experiences and sometimes fail in their efforts to achieve. Eagles are majestic birds but can only realize their potential when they leave the nest and begin to fly on their own. God gives each of us that same ability to grow and fly on our own and He expects us to exercise that gift. We may fall away from the nest but He does provide a means of learning and growth from the adventure, if we learn from His teaching. We have a choice. We can gain knowledge from the voyage or we can continue to hide in the nest. God sometimes may even give us a push to get us out and into the purpose He has for us in life. Without that extra push it is difficult to get on with life. My family had received the push when I was afflicted by cancer and had to accept a job and relocate to Michigan from our Texas home. I began to realize as we were driving northward that I was very much like the eagle. What had seemed too chaotic was now proving to be an opportunity. We all enjoy the security of the nest but we never get very far in life if we remain in and around the confines of our home or a vocation that is not where God wants us. I believe God sometimes provides those extraordinary experiences in life for us so that we may prepare for our real purpose. Sometimes our lives are incentivized, and like the momma eagle pushing her eaglet, we are nudged to get out of the nest. We may find ourselves in turmoil. Life is always more tranquil when we are not being pushed out of our comfort zone or in upheaval. If you haven’t been through chaos where you feel like you are free falling, like the young eagle, then stand by, because uncontrolled life happens to almost everyone at some point. Be prepared to take advantage of the turmoil because the change can either set you free or imprison you. The end result is up to you. The primary objective as you engage the problem is to maintain control so you can get to a satisfactory conclusion. The prediction that we will all encounter some turmoil comes from my personal experience. I am not saying that to bring you down, but to the contrary, to prepare you for developing a method of getting through the problem. The problems that arise won’t necessarily be a reflection on you personally. Challenges are a normal part of our existence because we are human beings and alive on the earth. This book is about how to handle those free falls or tumbles when they occur. I do not possess a degree in psychotherapy but could probably qualify for a doctorate in counseling if doctorates were awarded for having experienced turmoil. I have been fortunate enough to have lived more than six decades and had a wonderfully exciting life. The ultimate goal is to find a way of flying free of the problems so that we may achieve the goal God has for us in life. Psalms 55:6 says, “Oh that I had wings like a dove, For then I would fly away and be at rest.” --- **Next chapter:** Maintain Control – Manage Chaos **Full book:** https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md