day #30: fly standby

so.....

i'm a planner. i like to plan things, and it's a rare occurrence when i don't plan something and just kind of let the chips fall where they may, or wing it, or all those other euphemisms related to letting go of control. moving to new york has helped a little, since so much of living here involves being flexible depending on train schedules, restaurant wait times, etc. but i feel most comfortable and most calm when i know that there is a plan. so my day 30 challenge came about after thinking a lot lately about what would happen if i did something without being confirmed. without having a backup plan. knowingly entering into a situation where i didn't know the outcome. so since i was flying on the first day of my challenge, i would choose to fly standby. 

i had heard that jetblue's standby policy was such that if you flew one flight earlier or one flight later than your confirmed flight, there was no charge - it was just subject to availability. so off to the airport i went, hopeful, without a plan, nervous, sweaty. when i got up to the ticket counter they said there were 7 seats left on the plane, and i could confirm to be safe for $50, or take my chances at the gate. i said no confirmation jetblue ticket lady! i would take the risk. 

armed with my 'maybe you'll get on ticket," i went to the gate and listened for my name over the loudspeaker:

no seat number! anxiety! 

and lo and behold 15 minutes before takeoff (and after a minor panic attack) i heard my name! i was in! 

i feel like for years i have had so much anxiety about doing the "right" or "safe" thing, ordering the "right" dish, seeing the "best" movie, that i haven't allowed myself a lot of room to have my own experiences. to make mistakes and learn from them, to laugh about how bad the restaurant was, to miss a flight and have to sit at an airport bar for 9 hours with strangers and be forced to make some new friends. i've been so constricted by reviews and confirmations and facebook (yeah, facebook), i've been unknowingly setting myself up for failure by letting someone else's experience inevitably set the tone for my own, and i'm over it. i want to make my own choices, good or bad. i know who i am, and i need to act on it. 

and so, high on choices, i helped an old lady with her bag, i talked to my (married) seat mate about his dauschand "bitsy" who was under his seat, and i was able to make it to jacksonville while it was still light out so i could play ring around the rosie at taco lu with this nugget:

all in all, the lesson learned today was to take risks. life doesn't always end up as you plan it, and it turns out that whatever happens is usually better than you could have ever imagined.

day 30 - complete!

xoxo
meagen