A Must or Want?

At the airport to fly home for the holidays. Long lines to check your baggage. Another long line to obtain boarding pass. Long lines at security. Empty your pockets. Open your laptop, turn on your handheld, open your phone please sir. Take off your boots please, sir. By the time you are finished just checking in and going through security, it's been over an hour if you're lucky, longer most of the time. No food on the flights any more, so you go hungry the whole time. 

Couple in front of me had a baby in a stroller. Going through security for them was a mess. Empty your pockets please, sir. Mam, we need to see inside your purse. Mam, please take the baby out of the carriage. Sir, you're going to have to pack up the stroller and put it on the cart please. Ten minutes later and we’re still waiting for them to go through security and the man turns around to me and says, “sorry about this.” I had already gone through twice myself due to having a butane lighter and a retractable pen in my briefcase, which I had to check. “No problem,” I said, “we’re all in this together,” I mumbled to him and smiled. 

Later on the long walk to the gate, he and I talk about how it doesn’t matter what happens to the terrorists now in Afghanistan, or in Iraq, or anywhere else; they managed in one day to totally alter our lives forever here in America. Flying has never been fun. It has always been, for a lot of people I think, a necessary pain in the ass that we only put up with, because for the most part the benefits have always outweighed the drag of it; but now of course things are very different. Flying in America is a fucking nightmare. Those twenty or so men who originated and carried out the September 11^th attacks completely altered the lives of 250 million people forever in a few short hours. 

I don't care though. It just feels good to be on the road again. I don't even care where I go. It just feels good to be back in the comfort of unfamiliar surroundings. There is nothing like traveling, the unfamiliar surroundings of it, to invigorate and get the creative juices flowing. I love to travel. I love being in unfamiliar places.

Christmas music playing everywhere. Pictures of snow and families and cozy fires. People smiling more and saying hello more often. we are an amazing people. We have created this fantastic time of joy and renewal for ourselves here in America. With all of it's inconsistencies and contradictions that Christmas time is, everyone just accepts it and makes the most of it here in America. In Miami, or anywhere in the South or Southwest, it's pretty hard to tell it's Christmas time. You don't really catch the vibe of it until you are on a plane to somewhere else. Girl next to me talks about the mall yesterday and how crazy and overwhelming it was. I didn't bother to tell her that I always deliberately save some last minute shopping till the day before Christmas. I look forward to it. I like all the big crowds of people on Christmas eve. It's just part of what makes Christmas fun.

Today was a decisive day. Standing in line this morning with all of the other people, I looked over to my left and noticed that the first class line was empty. I thought about how my travel agent told me that if I wanted to book first class that it would cost me about $1,600 but if I did it at the check-in counter it would probably be about $150 extra. I looked at the 50 or so people in front of me in line and then again at the empty line to my left. I thought about my last flight a few weeks ago—-the unbearably small seat, my aching legs, the other person right on top of me, the utter agony of the whole experience, shifting back and forth in my seat till I felt like I was going to fucking go crazy, and then I thought about those big cushy seats in first class. Without another second passing by, I jumped over into the empty first class line. When I got to the ticket counter and said, “I would like to upgrade to first class please,” I felt the shift inside. I could never go back now. So there it was. 

Anthony Robbins talks about analyzing the musts in our lives. We make as much money as we must. Most people just don't realize it. What is a must to one person, is a luxury to another and completely out of reach or unthinkable for another. Some people must drive a top of the line high performance sports car. Other people say that their Honda or Toyota serves them just fine. What they are really saying is that saving money, being prudent and practical is more of a must for them than a fancy sports car. Little do they know that they could in fact create both if they wanted to. Different musts. 

I remember when I first created “must having” a personal assistant. Over worked over tired and still feeling like I wasn't getting enough accomplished everyday—I wasn't feeling that total juice that I knew I was capable of, incomplete projects and papers piling up all around me. I just woke up one day and said that's it, I'm getting an assistant. How will we afford it? She asked. I don't know., but I know we will because this is just an absolute must at this point. That was about four years ago. And I've never looked back. My productivity increased tenfold overnight. And so did my earnings. But more importantly my inner feelings of satisfaction and fulfillment really started to take off because I was able to do more of what I love to do and more of what I am good at. And when that happens, you become a bubble of joy bouncing around your world inspiring people and spreading general happiness. Emotions and feelings are infectious. Simply put, when you feel good, other people feel good around you.

Now I am on the airplane sitting in first class writing this. I had contemplated making sitting in first class a must for a long time. But I would always listen to that voice in our heads that says, "I don't have enough money, I'm not there yet, it's not worth it, what’s so good about that anyway, it's just not practical," and all that other crap. Well I haven't stopped writing since I got on the plane two and half hours ago. Because I haven't had to--my laptop fits quite comfortably on my lap in my seat that is very soft and roomy and comfortable, plenty of leg room. No foul faced hag telling me that I can’t use portable electronics. The person sitting next to me is almost a yard away. Nice big arm rests and glass holders. Not only am I comfortable, I am luxuriating. My briefcase fits great under the seat. As much beverage service as we want from the start. Free headsets for the in-flight movie—no five dollar fee for us. Pillows, blankets, and if all that weren't enough, some beautiful blond has come by to take our order for our hot meal, even though this is supposedly a ‘beverage only’ flight for the rest of the passengers. And at the end of the flight they serve us a hot towel to clean up and refresh yourself with.

O.K. so I'm sold on first class. From now on, first class becomes a must, like food, shelter, or clothing. An absolute must. Work harder? Naaaahhh. Work smarter.

Current Spin: Fat Boy Slim, spins at Brighton Beach.