Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. Today I want to talk about exposure. Not in the sense of contact with a disease, but rather contact with each other and with our ideas.
Regardless of your risk aversion and where you fall on the stay at home spectrum, all of us have been seeing a lot less of each other recently. Technology has made this the best time ever to have to be quarantined, but there are still considerable side effects from our lack of exposure to one another.
Just like or immune system grows stronger by exposure to various microbes, our minds grow stronger by exposure to ideas. Obviously books, the internet, and most forms of media are still up and running, but humans are social creatures who are meant to interact. A large portion of those interactions has been removed, and thus a large portion of the ideas we share with each other.
I didn’t realize how much I was missing this exposure until I got back to work. I was far from solitary confinement, in fact as a pilot, this was probably the most consecutive nights I’ve spent with my wife ever. But all of the other human interaction and exchanges had been removed.
Most of the captains I fly with are at very different points in their life. Most have grown kids out of the house, some have grand kids. Most differ politically, religiously, and seldom enjoy the same hobbies as I do. But spending time with them, being exposed to their ideas, their story, and their experience, is helpful if I am willing let it be.
Sometimes it is seeing a situation and thinking, I hope I don’t handle it that way when I’m a captain. Sometimes it is an attitude or character attribute to be admired or one to be avoided. Sometimes it is a political or scientific idea so crazy you just have to laugh. The only way to test your own ideas and grow a more robust perspective, is to be exposed to those things in others listening openly and earnestly.
I’m grateful to be getting back to flying, and while my wife and I are both anxious about the additional social interactions, (especially with speedy still only three months old), I’m very grateful for the exposure.
Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.
