Fink offered that quote in the movie Wild Robot counseling Brightbill the best way forward to the adventure that lay ahead. And, it’s really stuck with me these past few weeks.
Fly Like You, Not Like Them: The Meaning of Individual Ascent
Meaningful success—authentic flight—demands personal integration rather than mere imitation.
As a father raising kids in a social media world and instructor teaching the next generation of EMS colleagues, the challenge is helping people discover their authentic selves through lived experience and not borrowed masks.
Here are five pillars that underpin this philosophy:
1. The Narrative You Live Defines the Wings You Grow
The story you tell yourself is not just entertainment—it is identity formation. If you live by the narrative of another, you forfeit authorship of your own becoming.
This is the great risk of blind imitation: you might adopt a path that is entirely unsuited to your nature, and in doing so, sabotage your highest potential.
Take the example of two types of EMS students I often come across.
Some students come into EMS expecting an adrenaline-fused career but are met with the harsh reality of late nights, long shifts, challenging exams, salty nurses, and burnt out medics.
That’s all they see or choose to and decide to integrate that stress into their life imitating the destruction they see rather than the opportunity they could chase.
Then comes the other type of student who sees the opportunity that lies ahead and uses it to drive focus learning what to do and NOT to do from their environment.
You can’t beat this kind of student. They’ll achieve, excel, and soar regardless of the barriers in front of them. They’re consistently self-determined and disciplined.
A proper narrative structures your aspirations, gives coherence to your suffering, and aligns your actions with a deeply personal ethos. If you do not deliberately write your own narrative, the world will impose one upon you.
Your standard won’t be your own; it’ll be defined by someone else and that’s the greatest misery.
2. Perception: The Lens That Determines What You See as Possible
Your perception fundamentally alters the possible.
If you look at others and believe that their flight is the only way to fly, you limit yourself. Your perception fundamentally alters the possible.
This is the essence of the herd mentality—where individuals believe that following the pre-established paths of success is the only viable course.
But perception is not merely passive; it is active construction.
If you choose to see yourself as an individual capable of discovering new possibilities, you will engage with the world in a fundamentally different way.
To truly fly as yourself, you must first see yourself as a flier—not as a mimic.
3. The Framework of Authentic Action: Integration Over Emulation
There is a crucial difference between learning from and copying others. The former integrates wisdom into one's own character, while the latter produces a fragmented self—one made up of borrowed, disconnected pieces.
An authentic framework for action is built on:
Self-awareness: Knowing your strengths, weaknesses, and deeper motivations.
Principle-driven decision-making: Acting in accordance with personal and universal values, rather than shifting with social trends.
Resilience: Standing firm in one’s convictions, even in the face of collective pressure.
If you adopt these, you develop a robust, unique structure that allows you to fly not as a mere reflection of others, but as an entity unto yourself.
4. The Rich Meaning of Flight: Responsibility and Sacrifice
If you truly aim to ascend as yourself, you must accept the weight of individuality. This means shouldering responsibility for your own success and failure.
Flight is not a passive state; it is an active responsibility.
There is suffering in this—because when you choose to fly like yourself, you accept that no one else is responsible for the outcome.
This is terrifying, but it is also liberating.
The richness of an authentic life is found in the struggle to maintain altitude despite turbulence.
Flight requires sacrifice. You must be willing to leave behind the safety of the ground, the comfort of the flock, and the easy assurance that you are on the "right" path because it is the common path. Only by risking yourself in the unknown do you truly claim your wings.
5. Action as the Final Arbiter of Identity
Ultimately, identity is not merely a concept; it is enacted. Who you are is revealed in what you do. If you spend your time mimicking, you become a mimic. If you take responsibility for your path, you forge an authentic self.
Each action you take reinforces or erodes your individuality. Every choice either aligns with your highest potential or drags you into conformity. The individual who flies like themselves is not someone who merely thinks differently but someone who acts in alignment with their highest, most integrated self.
In the end, your wings are built not by your intentions, but by your discipline, responsibility, and courage to be uniquely yourself.
The Cost of True Flight
The world rewards conformity because it is predictable and controllable. To truly fly, to ascend on your own terms, is to accept risk, isolation, and the difficulty of self-definition. But in this difficulty lies meaning—because the alternative is a life lived as a lesser version of someone else.
To fly like you is the highest responsibility.
To fly like them is the safest failure.
Choose wisely.
