Unlike this year, last year around the holidays, I flew from my home in Seattle to the east coast to visit my family. As usual we had a layover in Chicago. It was already about 8PM local time when they announced the flight would be delayed. Then is was delayed again. And again. Eventually we all got onboard and were on the runway by about midnight.

As soon as the the plane took off, a really loud, continuous sounds shook the cabin. It was a terrible shrieking from some mechanical source. I was in the very back row so I could see what was going on. People were looking around. They were obviously concerned. I peered behind my seat to see what was going on with the flight attendants. They were sort of freaked out too.

We climbed higher and higher into the air and the noise just kept on going. Maybe even getting louder. People were getting excited and stressed. You could feel it in the air.

Then the captain came on. He said it was no big deal. Everything was cool. Except we were going to make an emergency landing back in Chicago. He said we’d be back on the ground in six minutes.

We did a 300 mile-an-hour U turn over the icy midnight skies of the city.

As I sat there strapped into my seat, I knew the guy was not going to tell us if something was seriously wrong. It became a very real possibility in that moment that I had less than six minutes left on earth. And if it was our time that night, there wasn’t anything I could do to change that fate.

F*ing intense.

For the next six minutes I reviewed my life. What I’d accomplished, who I’d loved, who I’d hurt. I looked at my present life back on the ground. Was I living it right? Was I creating and contributing in the ways I could? Was I loving deeply? Pushing past fears, stepping into growth and change?

To cut to the bottom line, the answers were ‘yes’ and ‘no.’

As you may have guessed, we landed safely. But those six minutes informed my choices from that night forward. 

It’s easy to get complacent in our lives, to fall into what’s easy, what’s known. It takes courage to confront our fears, step forward, be true to our hearts.

These days we’re not a plane with six minutes to the ground. But I suspect many of us are asking similar questions. This may be the beautiful gift from a dark place.

Perhaps now is a time to step back and contemplate these kinds of questions. Maybe when this is all over, it will be time to make some real changes. Alter our direction. Find more kindness.

Maybe it’ll be a reminder to spend more time writing, painting or making music or hanging out with friends and family. 

It generally takes some big friction or a scare to wake us up. It can be difficult. And it is right now for everyone. But somewhere in every challenge there is a gift.