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7 Stages of Grieving When You Screw Up Your Airplane

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wltrmtty

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2013
Messages
78
Location
Kenosha, WI
1.SHOCK & DENIAL – When you realize you’ve made a mistake on your airplane, you will react with numb disbelief. You may even deny you’ve screwed up and try to drive on. No, you screwed it up. It’s better to accept it now.

2.PAIN & GUILT – Once you’ve accepted you screwed up, shock and denial will be replaced by unbelievable pain and guilt. You will dwell on all of the time and money you’ve wasted. Although this pain and guilt is excruciating and drives to your inner core, it’s important that you experience it fully so that maybe, just maybe, you won’t make the same bone-headed mistake again. At this point, homebuilding will feel chaotic and scary and you will wonder what you were thinking when you decided to build an airplane. That’s OK, many successful homebuilders have been in the same situation.


3.ANGER & BARGAINING – The pain & guilt will give way to anger and bargaining. You may lash out and lay unwarranted blame for the mistake on others. You may even rail against fate, questioning "Why me?" You may try to bargain in vain with the designer, kit manufacturer, or your Tech Counselor hoping one or all of them will tell you the mistake isn’t really a mistake, it’s just “a different approach.” No, it’s a mistake.


4.DEPRESSION, REFLECTION, LONELINESS - Just when your family and friends think you should be getting on with your airplane, a period of sad reflection will likely overtake you. You will spend hours staring at the mistake. During this time, you finally realize the true magnitude of your mistake and it depresses you. You may isolate yourself and reflect on how you wanted your airplane to be admired. It’s now when all of those beautiful Lindy award-winning planes in Sport Aviation will nauseate you.


5.THE UPWARD TURN - As you start to adjust to the idea that you made a mistake and you’ll have to rework a major portion of your airplane, your life becomes a little calmer and more organized. Your physical symptoms lessen, and your depression begins to lift slightly.


6.RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH - As you become more functional, your mind starts working again. You will find yourself seeking realistic solutions to correcting the mistake and you get started on preparations for the rework.


7.ACCEPTANCE & HOPE – In this final stage, you will realize there is no perfect airplane and you will seek to understand the process that got you into this situation in the first place. As you work through correcting the mistake, you will realize that many mistakes can be avoided by thoughtful preparation and, when you do make mistakes, they can be corrected, giving you a new confidence, hope and energy to finish the plane and fly it.


Adapted from, 7 Stages of Grief – Through the Process and Back to Life; http://www.recover-from-grief.com/7-stages-of-grief.html
 
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