Life’s Flight Plan: Your Cheeky Guide to Change

Life is all about change, darling! But let’s be honest—some changes feel like a gentle breeze, while others hit you like a Category 5 hurricane and flip your entire world upside down.

There’s a saying you’ve probably heard floating around: “The only constant in life is change.” Oh, so true! And guess what? You might be experiencing it right now. You might be smack-dab in the middle of it, wondering what on earth just happened to your perfectly organized little world.

So, what do you do when life decides to shake things up like a snow globe?

The Choice Is Always Yours (Yes, Always!)

Here’s the thing: when life throws you a curveball, you always have a choice. You can choose to see the opportunity dancing in front of you, or you can choose to stare at that one closed door (the old way) and flap around like a confused bird in a cage until you find an escape route. What’s it going to be? Regardless of which path you choose, remember—you always have a choice.

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll

When change is barreling toward you like a freight train, it can still feel absolutely terrifying. The foundations you’ve relied on start crumbling, and suddenly everything you’ve known for eons becomes ancient history. You’re wandering around in unfamiliar territory, feeling like a tourist without a map. Trust me, I’ve been there—after over a decade with the same company, I found myself flying solo in business. Talk about turbulence!

Take those Qantas employees making headlines lately. They’re facing imminent redundancy, and their lives are changing faster than you can say “boarding pass.” Their families are affected too. Each one is standing at a crossroads, probably wanting to book a one-way ticket to anywhere-but-here and pretend this is all just a really bad dream.

But here’s the plot twist: sometimes change comes disguised as your fairy godmother, and you don’t realize it until you’ve popped out the other side, blinking in amazement.

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts

Change Is As Good As A Holiday (Seriously!)

Speaking of holidays and change—have you ever noticed how we pour our hearts and souls into planning that perfect annual getaway? All that research, dreaming, and meticulous planning for just one magical week a year!

Now, imagine if we channeled that same energy into planning the things we want to create in our everyday lives. Mind-blown yet?

Here’s your first actionable step: Use your holiday planning superpowers for life planning!

Think about it: holidays are those magical experiences we craft for short bursts of our lives. We choose destinations that’ll give us the optimum outcome and experiences we crave, down to the tiniest detail! We research, we dream, we plan like our lives depend on it.

What if your entire life operated like that? What if you applied the same strategy and systems to planning your career and lifestyle as you do to your holidays? A life in constant bliss! (Okay, with a few hiccups because, let’s face it, that’s just life teaching us lessons along the way.)

“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn

The Holiday Memory Exercise

Just for fun, I want you to close your eyes and think about the best holiday you’ve ever experienced. Got it? Good! Now see what you saw, hear what you heard—the sounds of waves crashing or friends laughing—and feel those feelings of pure, unadulterated happiness. Can you taste that tropical drink? Do you have a smile creeping across your face? Are you there? Perfect! Now come back to the present and notice how your heart is practically singing with excitement as you remember that time of true bliss.

Here’s the kicker: You can have that feeling every single day. Who said you can’t?

Your Personal Flight Crew Awaits

This is where a Transition Coach swoops in like your personal superhero. Just as you’d choose a travel agent to guide your perfect vacation, you’d choose a coach to streamline your journey and ditch the excess baggage.

Actionable Step #2: Find your guide! Whether it’s a coach, mentor, or wise friend—don’t navigate major life changes solo.

It’s exactly like planning a holiday. You decide it’s time for a change from the everyday humdrum, you put in the effort, do the planning, and then take off to navigate a brand-new flight path. And just like exploring a foreign country, you experience something fresh and unfamiliar. You get so much more out of it when you have a guide who knows the hidden gems and what potholes to avoid.

My Own Turbulent Tale

Two and a half years ago, I was living the jet-setting life with Qantas, hopping between countries each week when my world literally changed overnight. One day I was on annual leave, sipping cocktails without a care in the world; the next day, I was redundant. Talk about a fast and furious ride!

With unpredicted stormy weather ahead that my little radar completely missed, I had tears streaming down my face. I was scared, excited, and flapping around like a newborn duckling learning to fly. I had absolutely no clue which path to take.

But here’s the beautiful plot twist: I’m now truly grateful every single day for that sudden change. It turned out to be the most important and magnificent growing experience of my life.

“Sometimes it takes an overwhelming breakdown to have an undeniable breakthrough.” – Tony Robbins

You see, it’s all about spotting the opportunity and setting your attitude to reach the altitude required for smooth flying.

When Life Gets Bumpy

Actionable Step #3: When you hit turbulence in life, check your existing systems, silence that warning alarm, and look carefully at what’s really happening.

I took some deep breaths and trusted my intuition. But I wasn’t flying solo—even though I’d been studying mindset and personal development for years, I got my own Transition Coach to help me navigate through unfamiliar territory. I needed someone with an outside perspective to guide me through and around the storms of my transition.

Actionable Step #4: Invest in yourself during transitions. Get the support you need—whether it’s coaching, therapy, or simply a trusted friend who’ll tell you the truth.

Now, as a Transition Master Coach myself, I’ve created programs to guide others through change, helping them avoid the worst of the turbulence and focus on strategies and systems that’ll get them taking off smoothly—without all that excess emotional baggage weighing them down.

The Aviation Life Connection

I’ve spent a huge chunk of my life in aviation (alongside adventure motorcycling, my partner, and my adorable puppy), and I’ve noticed striking similarities between flying and everyday life. We all carry excess baggage (hello, emotional stuff and limiting beliefs!), excess weight (holding onto other people’s problems in our bodies), and we need clean fuel (proper food and water) plus great engines (supportive relationships) to fly safely.

Actionable Step #5: Regularly audit your life’s “flight plan.” What excess baggage can you drop? What needs fuel? What systems need upgrading?

When we stand in our truth and listen to our body’s warning signals, we achieve smooth flying most of the way. Once we acknowledge our true path and what we genuinely value, everything becomes crystal clear. I know it sounds a bit “woo-woo,” but trust me—it works!