One might say Phillip Donlay was born to fly. His
grandfather was a private pilot and would take Philip up and let him steer the
plane at 4 years old. Donlay writes for the Huffington Post in an article entitled, “Philip
Donlay, Former Pilot Turned Author: 'I Wanted My Swagger Back,'” “I would
sit on his lap and he would let me steer. It would scare me to death, but I
couldn't wait to get back up.”
Philip’s passion for flying continued through his teens and
he became a licensed pilot at 17 and by the time he was 20, Philip was a
co-pilot of a jet plane for a Saudi sheik. That experience gave Donlay valuable
jet experience and in 1980, he became a corporate jet pilot – a job he loved
and held for 28 years.
During the height of his flying career, Phillip started
feeling pains and had trouble sleeping in his mid-twenties. By the time he was
in his forties, he suspected something more was going on. As a jet pilot, a
physical was required every 6 months. Philip writes, “It finally got to the
point where I had to find the answers. I didn't want to hear them -- in my
mind, jeopardizing my career and not being able to fly would be the absolute
worst thing that could happen to me. As it turned out I did have medical
issues. It took my career away from me…I was diagnosed with an autoimmune
disease called ankylosing spondylitis at 52 -- it's an autoimmune arthritic
condition.”
In an attempt to salvage his career and love of flying,
Donaly says, “the quality of life without drugs was just almost unberable. I
went to the Mayo Clinic to get a second opinion on this just to salvage my
career. They uncovered some cardiac issues. I had arterial blockage. I had a
triple bypass heart surgery [in 2008 and] that was the end of my career at that
point.”
Phillip Donlay, Corporate Jet Captain working in a job he
was passionate about and gave his life purpose was grounded!
Phillip recalls, “It was horrible. I don't like change. I
loved my job, I loved doing it and I still miss it. It was the worst thing that
had ever happened to me at that time. I was a wreck. It took me a while to try
to find my purpose again. I think we all need that, and men are even worse at
-- we are what we do. One day I was a senior jet captain, the next day I'm just
a guy living on the 4th floor.”
With almost unbearable pain and a career cruelly taken away
from him by an unfortunate medical condition, Philip Donlay could have easily
become bitter, angry and resentful, looking out the window of his 4th
floor home, wondering, “why me?”
Phillip would have none of that, though. He explains, “When
I couldn't fly anymore I really did need a purpose. I was really lost. I needed
something that would give me some focus and some drive. I wanted my swagger
back. I wanted the swagger that I had as a jet pilot.”
Donlay found his swagger by turning his passion for
airplanes into a successful career writing novels with, what else?, airplanes
in them!
Of his writing career, Phillip says, “Writing gave me that.
[Purpose] It gives me a reason to get up in the morning; I have to use my
brain, I have to be useful, I have a purpose now. I have goals and I set them
for myself. Everything was rescaled from flying around the world in a private
jet -- including the salary. Once all of those issues that I thought were the worst
things in the world settled down, it turned out to be the best thing.
Phillip concludes, “I've seen the world at 600 miles an hour
and now I get to see it at 60 -- so it appeals to me. As a novelist I can write
anywhere. It's a better world now than it was 10 years ago, and I would never
have guessed that. I'm healthier and happier now than when I thought I was at
the top of the world and where I wanted to be.”
Phillip Donlay did not let the end of his career end his
passion for airplanes and flying. Instead, it was a new beginning. Phillip no
longer flew around the world and no longer had the big salary, but he found
purpose in his writing and a way to continue his lifelong passion for flying
and airplanes. He simply found another way.
All of us have passions that can drive purpose in our lives.
Sadly, few of us pursue our passions and purposes in life in any meaningful
way. If you are passionate about basketball, but playing the game at a high
level is not in the cards, do what Phillip Donlay did, find another way to
pursue your passion. Basketball teams need coaches, trainers, and the like.
Merchandizing apparel with team logos is big business or come up with a new
product associated with your passion. Teams need broadcasters and media
researchers, bloggers and writers. You could even do what Phillip Donlay did
and write a novel about basketball or a true account about a player or amazing
game. All it takes is imagination! Don’t let life circumstances get in the way
of your passions and purposes in life.
As Walt Disney is reported to have once said, “Think,
Believe, Dream, Dare!”
For more on passion, purpose, finding your profitable
passion, and imagination, see Don’t
Seek Success – Be Happi.
Be Great!
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