In the history of travel, only a small portion of humanity has probably said, “May I have a middle seat, please?”

According to the 2024 Ultimate Airplane Seat Survey by Upgraded Points, 1.7% of people prefer the middle seat, compared with 66.6% for window seats and 31.7% for aisle seats.

It is a place where you fold yourself into an origami, bending into shapes the human body was never meant to achieve. Additionally, you are stuck between two people who both believe the armrest is rightfully theirs.

And yet, there is something metaphoric about it.

Here is the thing: sometimes life just assigns us a middle seat. You don’t get to choose. You just receive it, delivered by the distribution system that does not bother to consider your preferences. 

This situation is way more common than we think because it is not restricted to a number on a ticket. Most of us live more middle-seat days than we’d like to admit: not a complete disaster, but also not a victory either. It’s something in between. We encounter circumstances that are decent, but also have room for improvement. 

Pick any field: airplanes, the workforce or daily routine, and there will always be a middle seat waiting for you.

Beyond bad luck with a seating arrangement, it could be your group project that you participate in, but never hold the spotlight. Sometimes it’s the one-hour commute you take every day.

Routine keeps us running — not because of an inner spark, but because of obligations — a job that pays bills but doesn’t set your soul on fire, or the time you chose to compromise instead of following your aspirations. This is when valuable lessons happen: you learn to play by the rules you didn’t write.

The middle seat teaches you these exact moments of how society functions. On an airplane, one passenger might readjust while another claims an armrest. In life, a person tied to the particular group for a project might begin pursuing their own niche perspective, and the commuter decides to invest in headphones and a good playlist to make the route worth taking. 

You learn the art of diplomacy in its primary manifestation: the middle seat. Being stuck does not equal powerlessness. Instead, it means letting go of control and adapting while staying true to yourself.

The middle seat teaches you to see the world from a different perspective. While we don’t get to choose our circumstances, whether it is a seat number, daily commute or a group project, we still fight for our best within the given range of possibilities. 

It is a good metaphor for how much of our existence happens between what we want and what we settle for. 

Life rarely gives us a perfect course. Instead, you learn humility, patience and resilience in the process. 

Then, one day, unexpectedly, the universe finally grants you a window seat — a breakthrough in the project, a dream job or even a small glimpse of hope for the better. 

You must treasure those moments. After spending all that time staring at the horizon over someone’s head, you finally have a direct view of the skies.

That is why the middle seat deserves a degree of respect. It is compromise, patience and leniency, but it’s also something worth looking into. 

Sometimes, we are suspended somewhere in between, searching for small moments of peace as much as possible.

And that is the real story of the middle seat. Of course, I will still sigh at the number on the boarding pass. However, when it happens, here is a reminder: you may not have a view, but you might get to see the version of life between extremes instead.