Can you ever say you’ve travelled by air if you never ran to catch your flight right before take-off?

I do not think so. It is an experience that surely humbles and shapes you at the same time.

Before experiencing this, I recall talking to one of my sisters about something deeply personal and which quite frankly, I thought was impossible to have. This sister is my voice of reason. She keeps me grounded whenever I drift too far. But to my greatest surprise, she said “I can’t believe you are not a fighter!”

Uhmmmm. Who’s this? This is definitely not my sister speaking.

But I was shocked when she said “Be DELULU. What God cannot do does not exist.”

I said okay and while I’m still trying to be grounded in my deluluness about that personal matter, her words came to my rescue when I least expected.

So sometime last year, I decided to travel. It was that type of journey where I neither had a checked-in bag nor a carry-on. I had only my personal item and some confidence. The plan was for me to strut into the airport, breeze through security, get to my gate and board right before take-off or so I thought. I left my house so I could arrive 45 minutes before take-off.

The plan was perfect! Everything was working fine.

I arrived at the airport as I planned and headed towards Terminal 1.

But something was wrong.  

I approached the nearest security officer and she told me I was at the wrong terminal. “Your flight leaves from Terminal 3.” She said.

“How do I get there?”

“You cannot connect from here. You have to take a train.”

The lady directed me and off I went. I arrived where I was meant to take the train.

7 minutes.

The train connecting me to Terminal 3 will be there in 7 minutes!

I looked at my watch.

Ah!

20 out of 45 minutes was already gone.

Now I have to wait 7 more minutes for the train to arrive. And if the train arrives in 7 minutes, it’d roughly take me 3 minutes to get there, meaning I have 15 minutes to go through security check and find my gate.

I can’t afford to miss my flight. I thought.

The train finally arrived and I hurried in as though rushing would lengthen the time I desperately needed.

It took 3 minutes to arrive at Terminal 3 as I anticipated. I hurried to security check but as I got there, I saw the longest queue I ever saw in my life.

Absolutely not! There’s no way it was humanly possible for me to make it in time.

T-minus 13 minutes.

I tried joining the queue, but the security officer thought it was the perfect time to barricade the entrance. I spoke to him and tried explaining but he said there was another place for security check.

I ran there, saw the queue which was long but not as long as the earlier one.

I stayed there and scanned the faces on the line to see if I could plead with someone “nice” so I could jump the queue.

Yikes! 2 minutes gone.

I waited and as I was about to beg the group of travelers in front of me, the security guy walked up to me, asked for my passport and boarding pass. I seized that opportunity to inform him that my flight will take off in what now appeared to be 8 minutes.

He looked at me and asked:

“Is that all you’ve got?”

“Yes.” I responded.

He made me a priority, asked me to jump the queue and took my purse through the security scanner.

As I went through security and waited for my purse, he looked at me and said “B3. Your gate is B3. You’re not gonna make it.”

I looked at the time.

6 more minutes. By now, I wasn’t just nervous, I was jittery. As I waited for the purse to pass through the scanner, I heard some murmurings. The lady beside me said “She’s so anxious. I’ve been there before.”

The security man who helped me kept saying “B3 is far. You’re not gonna make it.” But interestingly, the security woman beside him looked me dead in the eye and said:

“You’re gonna make it. You just have to run like your life depends on it.”

It was reassuring to hear something positive.

By now, I had 4 more minutes. I heard murmurs and people’s voice saying, “you can do it!” “You gotta run” “she’s panicking” “she looks so stressed” “I’ve been there before.”

I saw my bag and ran to grab it! And as I did, the crowd cheered me on and said “run! You can make it!”

I ran like I never did in my life. The security guy was right. B3 was very far. It was like traveling from east to west. I felt like a thirsty dog as I struggled to hold my breath together.

I checked how much time I had. 2 minutes. I applauded myself for how much distance I covered in 2 minutes. But I didn’t think I’ll make it! I thought about the security guy and what he said. He clearly knew his stuff. B3 was nowhere in sight. There’s no way I’d make it in time. As I almost gave up, I remembered the female security officer and what she said.

I also heard my sister saying – “Be DELULU, what God cannot do does not exist.”

I said a quick prayer in my heart. As I kept running, I saw the arrow showing where I could find gate B1 to B16.

Amazing! I must be close but the issue was gate B3 was at the far end. I looked at my watch. I had no time left. It was a minute after the scheduled time for takeoff. I could see gate B3.

I patted myself on the back and consoled myself with the understanding that I’ll ask the airline officials to put me on the next flight. And as I arrived there looking breathless and disoriented, the airline official looked at me and asked…”destination xxx?”

Stunned, I managed a breathless “yes.”

Boarding pass and passport please?

What! I actually made it!

Enjoy your trip!

I made it! I was excited and exhausted and as I walked through the aisle leading into the plane, I realized it was just me. I was the last person to board the plane.

The security woman was right! And I was delulu enough to think there was a slight chance that I could make it and I made it.

Even though I paid dearly for it with shortness of breath, I thought it was a great way to end 2025.

I am entering 2026 with the conviction that we need some DELULUNESS, no matter how little, in whatever we do.

Because it is the stubborn, hopeful fuel that will carry us through an impossible reality.

For me, running that day wasn’t about catching a flight but choosing a belief when logic failed and said stop.

Sometimes, being realistic is a way of giving up so, friends, please have some DELULUNESS, even if it’s little, in 2026!