How My Love of Flying Became a Surprising Health Plan

What if the things you do for fun aren’t distractions from your health—but the very foundation of it? Not fitness apps. Not fad diets. But that thing that brings your inner child alive. For me, it’s flying. Not piloting a plane, but everything about flight: the engines, the design, the history, the feeling of awe as aircraft roar overhead. It’s been part of my life since childhood, and in ways I never expected, it’s become central to my well-being. In this video, I want to show you why.

Have you ever had a hobby that made you feel weightless—like the real you finally had space to breathe? What if that was the missing piece in your health journey?

Enjoy life

Most health advice treats joy like an optional extra. You do the hard work—then maybe reward yourself. But I believe that model is broken. Because most people don’t fail at being healthy—they just get bored. They hit a plateau. They stop enjoying it. But what if health could be something you look forward to? What if it started with what you already love?

That’s the heart of Fit2Thrive: using play—like your real hobbies—as the engine for long-term health. Not once in a while, but every day. Hobbies aren’t fluff. They’re how we thrive.

We’ve already explored this idea through tennis, football, and walking in this series on hobbies for health. Flying is the next chapter—and maybe your breakthrough moment.

The dream of flight

I’ve always loved flying. As a kid, I’d spend hours on my ZX Spectrum flight sim, dreaming of the sky. I was captivated by planes like the Concorde, the Spitfire, the SR-71. I even met pilots from those aircraft—moments that left a deep mark on me.

My wife, knowing this love, has taken me to airshows for years. One birthday, she found a little local event—Holmbeck Farm Airshow. I didn’t know then how special that place would become. We wandered the fields, watched vintage planes loop and roll across the sky. It felt like magic.

Years later, I realised something beautiful: I kept returning to Holmbeck. Not because I planned to. But because something in me was drawn back. Over and over. That’s when it hit me: this hobby was doing something for me. I wasn’t just watching planes—I was restoring a part of myself.

Have you ever returned to a place or passion without quite knowing why—only to realise it was healing you all along?

Aviation lessons

Aviation, for me, is more than entertainment. It teaches me to zoom out. To reconnect with my curiosity. When I’m walking through a museum or watching a jet roar overhead, I’m reminded of possibility. I feel small in the best way—like part of something larger.

That feeling reduces stress, clears my head, grounds me, and keeps calling me back. This is the real magic of hobbies: we come back to them willingly, again and again.

Compare that to most health plans, which people abandon after a few weeks. Why? Because they’re built on discipline alone. Hobbies work because they’re built on joy. And if you can learn to do what you love in a way that strengthens your body and nourishes your mind—well, that’s a health plan that lasts.

Ask yourself: What do you already love doing that could double as self-care, if you let it?

What lights you up?

So here’s my invitation to you: What do you love? What hobby lights you up—makes you feel present, free, curious? It might be painting. Hiking. Birdwatching. Playing an instrument. Don’t wait for the perfect time. Don’t wait until you’re fitter, richer, less busy.

Pick one hobby. Make time for it this week. And try seeing it not as a treat—but as part of your health.

Because the best way to be healthy? Is to build a life you love coming back to.

If this idea resonates, check out my other videos in the Hobbies for Health series: how tennis taught me presence and play, how football reconnected my family, and how walking became my daily reset.

And if flying’s your thing too—leave a comment. Tell me your favourite aircraft. I’ll go first: SR-71. Spitfire. Concorde. Unbeatable.

See you in the next one.