Self-Confident

Self-Confident:               Them: Yes ___ No ___

I admire people who are self-confident. I can remember the exact day that I shifted into a confident young woman.

I had to travel a great deal with my job at the time and one trip required that I fly from El Paso into Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was during a thunderstorm and the lightning was within inches of the wingtips of our 6-place passenger plane.

I was fortunate enough to sit next to a private pilot who held my hand the entire flight. When we landed, he literally had to pry my fingers out of his hand. I have never been that frightened in my life.

When I returned back home to the Bay Area I told my husband that I had to learn to fly (that was the encouragement given to me by the private pilot). My husband informed me “his wife would not be learning to fly!”

I went down to the Junior College and signed up for a sewing class and left the pink slip for the registration on the counter. When he came home and saw the slip, he was very encouraging; telling me it was great that I would want to attend a class.

So, while he thought I was taking a sewing class, I was actually taking the ground school’s flying lessons. It wasn’t the most ideal way to handle the situation, but to continue with my job, I had to find a way to get over the paralyzing fear.