Flying From the Box

Here is another one of those, "you won't believe this" kind of stories. Ever heard of Jessica Cox. Her story has been making the rounds during the past few months. Jessica is a pilot. So are lots of other people. Here is the punch line. How many of those other pilots have no arms?

That's right Jessica, who was born without arms, is the only pilot licensed to fly using only her feet. But what the heck. I guess once you have learned to do things such as put in contact lenses or play the piano with your feet, what’s the big deal about flying? I am sure her flight instructor knew immediately she was up for the task, when she drove herself to her lessons.

There is no need to retell her entire story here. You can Google her or check out a YouTube video about her at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuMHSFPOzpc.

But I think you will agree, she certainly has that No Box mindset and spirit. There is probably an endless number of reasons why her flying achievement would be considered impossible, including my favorites, “no one has ever done that before,” or “it simply cannot be done by someone like her.” But she obviously refused to let anyone or anything box her in, including a couple of missing limbs. And now she is flying high.

So Jessica, you go girl and thank you for being a role model. And for those of you reading this, I encourage you to re-look at some of your favorite excuses as to what is holding you back from something great. Hopefully, her accomplishment will inspire all of us to break free from the box and go for our dreams in dramatic new ways, rather than just trying to conjure up some better excuses!

Steve