The Gift of Direction

Last weekend during my two-hour endurance power walk, a lady started to beep at me. First, I thought, what was I doing? Am I too far in the road? As she approached me, she told me she was very lost and needed help. I stopped and gave her directions to where she needed to go; she thanked me and went on her way.

As I rounded the corner, I saw her again coming from the other direction. This time she waved at me, and I went back up to the driver’s window. She was still lost and went the opposite way from the directions I gave her. I blamed myself as the first time I gave directions, I assumed she would turn around and then proceed, but she went straight. I gave her the exact directions I gave the first time, and I believe she found the location she was looking for as I didn’t see her again.

I have thought about that experience all week as I train for the Navy Seal Swim. I have been blessed to have a coach who not only has patience but gives very explicit direction. Before my first day with her in the pool, she watched and listened to a couple of my podcasts and videos and found out that I was a visual learner. She did her homework. I needed to break down my swimming into steps. Coach Patty would demonstrate each step as we worked through the drills. This week, after only 12 sessions with Coach Patty, I was able to complete a metric mile of swimming. We have a long way to go until I go back into the Hudson River on August 7th, but Coach Patty has given me the gift of direction.

During the final days of my time with my mentor Bill, our conversations went from “lessons” to more philosophy.  After the last time I saw Bill alive in his office, we would jump on the phone as now all I really wanted to do is check in on Bill. He had lung cancer and was in the final four months of his life, but every time we spoke, until the last time we did in August of 1997, he was upbeat. During that last call in August, Bill was very emotional. I think he knew his time was coming. Our conversation was basically about it was my time to take the ball and run with it now. I thanked him and told him I loved him and asked him what I could do to help him or Bonnie. He said there was nothing I could do but always to remember, the most significant gift I could ever give him is to give the gift of direction to someone.

He told me whatever is shared grows and comes back to you. Money is just something we have to have, but people will remember you for giving them direction for their lives. 

I started to think about that statement this week after my time with the lost lady and what Coach Patty is giving me. After this past year of turmoil and all the calls I made to connect with people, I found that people were in such a state of uncertainty, they were lost. They did not have a game plan or ever experienced the turbulence that 2020 was.  They needed direction. 

When I started this journey to return to the Hudson and honor those who gave their lives for our freedoms, I also want this time to leave the Hudson on my terms. But I also realized, I needed direction. 

Maybe that lady in the car was a signal to me. To be clear with the direction I give someone, so I send them in the right direction. Maybe Coach Patty gave me a wake-up call to do your homework before you give direction so you can make sure your directions are understood in the way they learn. 

My current mentor, Don, was right. When I found those notes I received from Bill that I so carelessly put in a journal in 1997, I was not ready to share and teach those lessons I was so blessed to receive. Maybe I needed something like a plane crash to wake me up and realize that I had a promise to fulfill. Perhaps I needed this gift that my swim buddy and wingman Suzanne opened up for me by introducing me to Stephen, a Navy Seal, to give me a new reference on how to serve and provide direction by getting direction. 

Bill’s last message to me was profound. The last time we met in his office, he asked me to “not let it die with me.” I promised I would not and later come to believe the reason I didn’t die during the experience of US Airways 1549 was I had not fulfilled that promise. The last time Bill and I spoke, he gave me the same message in a different way. He wanted me to take all the wisdom he imparted in me and provide direction to people who may be lost or just need to take a different path. When Bill and my journey began, I was on a pathway that I had no passion or many competencies for. He knew that, and if he could leave me some insights and the mindset of success, I would take a different path, one of servant leadership. All he asked was for me to do the same. God doesn’t take away anything without replacing it with something. God took Bill away in September 1997 but replaced it with his wisdom to me to give direction to the next generation.

I am now ready, and that is my mission.

My mission is simple; help those who may be going through their own turmoil from the past year with a pathway to victory and triumph and understand that you didn't get this far only to go this far!

Treat the TURMOIL of 2020 as your year of preparation and 2021 as your year to TRIUMPH!

If you would like to support my mission to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and those who lost their lives during the Extortion 17 mission, please check out my page at Dave Sanderson Seal Swim. Thank you for your consideration.

LEAD YOURSELF FIRST and CREATE YOUR FLIGHT PLAN FOR YOUR FUTURE!

 Dave Sanderson is the President of his firm, Dave Sanderson Speaks International, based out of Charlotte, NC. On January 15, 2009, Dave was one of the last passengers off the plane that crashed into the Hudson River, best known as The Miracle on the Hudson, considered the most successful ditching in aviation history. He has built a career as a motivational speaker, mentor, and author. Recently named one of the top 100 Leadership Speakers in Inc.com. Dave averages over 80 speeches a year for major corporations worldwide.