--- title: Chapter 29 – Enjoy the Moment description: Landing brings relief. Dean shares his personal fear of heights and how facing that fear on the Empire State Building became a metaphor for overcoming the fear of landing after crisis. --- # Chapter 29 ## Enjoy the Moment – Landing Brings Relief **Full book:** https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md --- ### Context for the Reader This chapter acknowledges the emotional release that comes when the crisis finally ends. Dean’s honest admission of his fear of heights on the Empire State Building observation deck is a beautiful, vulnerable moment that humanizes the entire book. --- When you finally make a decision to land your problem, you are concluding a process that has consumed all of your attention for a period of your life. Landing your problem often brings to an end a stressful, attention-demanding period of your life, and results in amazing relief and satisfaction. It is imperative for you to find that safe place to land in your life. It is up to you to take a step toward landing and moving your life forward. Determine a direction you want to go and then take the first step to move in that direction. Look for a place to conclude your ordeal and make that your objective. Just as an experienced pilot searches the horizon for a suitable landing field in case of an emergency, you should be scouting out alternatives while you are moving through your routine of living. When you are stalled in life it may be a great opportunity to analyze your surroundings. Decide where you want to land and then turn your focus in that direction. When I was on the observation deck at the Empire State building I had a secret that I should share with you. I have talked a lot about flying airplanes and used analogy after analogy involving flying and observing the earth from on high. My personal secret for many years (my wife knows it well) is that I have always been afraid of heights. If I get more than two steps off the ground on a stepladder my knees tremble and my hands shake. I know you may think it is a stupid thing to be nervous about being off good old terra firma, but heights affect me in different ways than most other folks. When I first walked onto the observation deck of the Empire State Building, I felt the world was tilting and the building might suddenly collapse. Later when I stopped and thought about where I was, I began to enjoy the view. I had walked up some steps, climbed on an elevator, and walked out onto that deck. The building was connected solidly to the ground, the elevator that transported me was connected to the building, and there was a solid foundation under the whole thing. When I thought about the connections to the earth I stopped worrying. Your life is much the same. If you are feeling that empty, not-incontrol feeling, and your mind is saying you are not connected to the world because of an out-of-control situation, then stop and think about the situation. The actions that occurred to bring you to your present position started with steps that transported you there. When I finally left the observation deck in New York City there was a sense of sorrow because I was back to the real world. It was then I realized I was a part of that city that I had observed from above. I had taken a step back into reality and into becoming a part of what I had observed 121 stories in the air. You very well may be in that same position. Do you feel that you have walked away from a great experience and you have lost the thrill of looking at life through those visions? You are a part of the real world and that is a wonderful situation. The world offers multiple opportunities to find satisfaction in life. You have the ability to return to earth from your crisis with a safe landing. Life moves from the high moments to the really low times and back again. The cycle is part of the process of life. It is the low moments in life that really count when you are trying to move forward. Remember that old Sunday School song from when you were a kid, “Jesus loves me, this I know…”? Well the words in that song are true. He does love us and because of that love we are always connected to the ground and on a firm foundation. He can make you go from the low point to the right place very quickly. There are many ways to find yourself back on solid ground but all involve you and your capability to find a place to land your problem. There is a noted relief when we first place our feet back on solid ground. It is the reward for enduring the times when we felt unsettled, unconfident, and, even, unfulfilled. There is gratification in the end. Enjoy the landing. --- **Next chapter:** Go Farther with Less – Stretch Yourself to Finish Well **Full book:** https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md