“There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." - John Ruskin

Are you stuck in a rut of your own choosing?

Have you ever performed a bad weather dance?

This is what happens when you divert an aircraft somewhere and are having too much of a good time to want to do your primary job (flying).

Many moons ago my old Squadron flew to Germany on exercise. With 2 aircraft and a handful of engineers, it turned out to be just the right number to effectively manage a really good entertainment plan (about football tour-ish numbers). 

(Un)fortunately, we had to divert due to the weather. Once to an airbase in the middle of nowhere, then to a larger American base. The latter of these had a number of amenities and a great town to let your hair down (ie get pissed and have a good time repeatedly).

The fog was causing an issue. It descended overnight and stayed like a giant carpet all day until 2pm for a number of days. Which meant we really couldn’t get going, as the window for flying was too short. As frustrating as this was, there was an upside….

Our days had a similar pattern. Wake up, look out the window at the fog. Go in and update the plan. Brief. Wait around for clearance. Make the decision not to go. Have a good time in town. Repeat.

In fact, it was such a good time we actually wanted the fog to set in permanently. Hence the dance to the Gods, so the good times could continue.

The paradox here is that we actually wanted to get going and take part in the exercise, it was our job. The fog brought frustration, repeated planning, long periods of waiting (plus dancing) and pressure from the chain of command to ‘get going’.

But for a time, the upside outweighed this.

I often wonder how we can get stuck in a loop of short-term gain, outweighing the longer-term mission.

Then I realise… it’s because it feels great.

But please do not get stuck here.

So if it’s eating those donuts, spending money that you don’t have on what you don’t need or kicking your relationship shortcomings down the road… get out of the rut quickly.

If you need an external ‘chain of command’ to get you out of a rut, there are plenty of people out there that can help (coaches/therapists/counsellors etc). Go and pick one.

Enjoy your life. Do a little dance. But eventually, get the job done.