Add Your Heading Text Author, Four-Time Plane Crash Survivor Shares Advice on Overcoming Trauma, Living Fearlessly and Pursuing Your Passion in Life
Add Your Heading Text Author, Four-Time Plane Crash Survivor Shares Advice on Overcoming Trauma, Living Fearlessly and Pursuing Your Passion in Life
Throughout the course of our lives, we all face hardships that are unique to us, many of which we don’t share with many people.
Sometimes, these moments damage us to the point where we have a hard time seeing the silver lining. Other times, they provide us with an epiphany, an “A-ha!” moment we wouldn’t have experienced otherwise.
And then there are moments, or situations that happen again, and again, and again until the lesson really sinks in.
These are the moments that oftentimes end up defining us and illuminate our path forward in life.
For Dave Moore, a speaker, author, Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force pilot, those lessons came in the form of a series of incidents that no one could have ever predicted: four plane crashes, each of which taught him several difficult lessons — and ultimately forged him into the person he is today.
Recently Moore, a dedicated aviator who has flown into hurricanes for the Coast Guard and lived to tell about it, decided to join AltHealthWorks.com for an interview on surviving trauma, seeing through the fog that it brings into our lives, and emerging stronger than ever, despite the scars we accumulate along the way.
AHW: Hi Dave, thank you for joining us.
What made you want to become a pilot at such a young age, and what was the most challenging part of getting started down that path?
DM: The easiest way to explain my desire for aviation at a young age was that aviation was in my blood.
My story is not a story about aviation or the military, but these passions are the catalyst that allowed me to uncover real life solutions to face seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Anyone who can uncover or find a purpose at a young age will achieve and accomplish well outside their ‘education’ or ‘abilities’ just knowing what they want. So many people wander through life cloaked in mediocracy because they have not uncovered their passion.
The most challenging part of getting started, as the son of a postman, was finding the funds. I worked since I was 14 years old, saved my own money and paid for my passion. At the time, airline jobs were hard to come by.
My dad would tell me that there were U.S. Air pilots working the French fry machine at McDonald’s, basically that I was wasting my time and money pursuing this.
When you know what you want, you need to approach with laser-point focus and put blinders on to the naysayers, no matter who they are, and go for what you are trusting in your gut is the right path.
AHW: What can you tell me about your first plane crash. Was it something you ever expected to happen? Was it painful? Did your life flash before your eyes?
DM: There is so much to say about the lessons learned from my first plane crash, it’s hard to write it all in this one article.
I can tell you for certain, that I never in a million years thought something like this would happen to me.
“Most survivors of un-survivable accidents will tell you, in my own experience and from meeting others, that you never think this will happen to you. “The beauty of a major life event like this, when handled properly, is you come out on the other side as a completely new person with an absolute new perspective on life.”
The physical pain is obvious that I went through, but as the bones heal and the surgeon put my face back together to look better than before I crashed I have realized the fight had not even begun.
‘Facing My Own Mortality’
At age 23, I was faced with a mid-life crisis having to face my own mortality. Not something we usually consider at a young age, luckily I was young, strong and eager to fight to get right so I could accomplish my passion of aviation.
This drive is what brings me to you, as it gave me a no-fail option that I would uncover the secrets to healing post traumatic stress and turning it into what I call post-traumatic growth.