With over 2 million miles flown, I have experienced a lot of turbulence during those flights. Last month my wife and I were on a flight and for the most part it was a fairly smooth flight. However, during our descent the plane was violently rocked and had we not had our seatbelts on, we would have been tossed from our seats. In all my years of flying that was definitely the toughest turbulence that I had ever experienced.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to sit next to many captains and pilots. As we would fly through the turbulence, they would provide calming assurances that the planes are built to handle the turbulence and the pilots are trained to fly us through safely. That has given me such great comfort over the years, a comfort that I tried passing along to some of the nervous flyers I have had sitting next to me.

On one such flight as we were flying from Denver to Albuquerque, the turbulence was bad the entire flight as the pilot couldn't find an altitude where the air was smooth. The woman sitting next to me literally squeezed my forearm the entire flight, and I had never met her before. I didn't mind and tried to assure her of the safety by sharing the stories pilots have shared with me, but she still held on for dear life.

Just last week I was flying on a Dreamliner, a massive airplane and super comfortable. The flight was full, and as we went through our ascent, the plane hit a pocket of turbulence and gave us a fairly good bounce up and down. There were a few quick screams and gasps, but there was another sound I heard, children laughing. The plane went through a little more bumpiness before finding smoother air and with each bump and drop of the plane, the children continued to squeal as if they were on an amusement park ride. I believe their laughter and relaxed attitude served to calm the nerves of others who didn't find the turbulence so amusing.

Life is full of turbulence, isn't it? It just seems that every single day we are at odds with one another over something. The turbulence of politics, of cancel culture, of societal pressures, and just overall discontent and disagreements brewing everywhere. Sometimes the turbulence is frightening as it escalates and becomes fierce. And sometimes the turbulence is slight, but still enough to cause us some fear, worry, and doubt.

It has been said that our character isn't defined by what happens to us, it is defined by how we handle what happens to us. The turbulence happening in the world doesn't define who we are, how we respond to the turbulence is a much better barometer of who we are. Sometimes we have to just buckle up, fastening our seatbelts and riding out the turbulence as it will eventually smooth out. Other times we may need to hold onto one another, supporting and encouraging each other as we fight our way through the turbulence. And then maybe we can look at the silliest things that feel like turbulence and like the children on the airplane, laugh our way through it.

There are plenty of real-world problems that we face as a society, and we should pay attention to those and become as informed as possible, focusing on the facts instead of opinions and rants of others. It just seems like there is much more noise and turbulence around the silliest and smallest things that get us so worked up. For me, in these situations, my go-to response is laughter, as it really keeps me focused on the more important things in life.

How do you handle the turbulence? Do you buckle up and ride it out? Do you hold on to others? Or do you decide that the best response is to smile and laugh it off? I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail.com, and when we can decide to respond instead of react to all that the world has to throw at us, it really will be a better than good life.

Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.