Friday, September 02, 2011

Falling in love is like ....flying

You may cross your eyes and think I'm quirky for comparing falling in love with flying but hear me out for a moment.

I do fear heights and I do fear the unknown, I also fear the things I can't control so it should be no surprise that I fear flying.

I'm not so scared to fly that I won't hop on an airplane however.

Some people fear falling in love and while out to lunch with a guy (my very own real life Mr. Big from Sex and the City, only we're not in New York City, we're in NASCAR) we talked about relationships and I had to think deep about how I really feel. About relationships, I've often been compared to Miranda but I also have a Carrie perspective about dating, I simply question it often.

After a heartache, we close ourselves up and don't let anyone in but with time, before we know it, we're back in the dating pool again. Some people, like Samantha from Sex and the City jump back in the pool within the hour of losing a boyfriend while others take there time.

I take my time. I've written it before, I don't date for the sake of dating. Just like, I don't fly for the sake of flying.
If I date someone, it's because I really like him; if I fly somewhere, it's because I'm going far away.

So how do the two compare?

When your plane takes off, the rush of lift off makes me feel like my entire body is being sucked back in the seat. My stomach gets tight, my heart beats fast, my hands get sweaty, my breathing is a bit heavier. Once we're at altitude, I'm fine and I start to relax.
Just like dating, you meet someone you're attracted to and you feel a swarm of feelings comparable to how I feel when my plane takes off.
Some flights are turbulent; some relationships are too; some flights are smooth flying, so are some relationships.In the plane, you can't simply get off until you reach your destination but in a relationship, you can walk out once the turbulence becomes too much to bare.
Have you ever been on a flight and thought it was smooth but the person sitting next to you thought it was a little to turbulent (or vise versa)? It happens in relationships too. Sometimes we enjoy ourselves and start to believe in the relationship but the other person doesn't see it the same way. That's a pretty painful truth to face but it happens often between couples.
Relationships crash and afterwards we sometimes we feel dead inside. We go through life feeling like a zombie and we think horrible thoughts. Recovering from a broken heart takes time and it's important to try to reach out to friends. It's common to feel like we could never date or fall in love again soon after a heartache but that's when you need to reach deep down inside and do something special for yourself. Take yourself out on a date to a fancy restaurant, get a manicure, pedicure or a message, do something to make you feel good and one day, when we least expect it, we wake up feeling alive and we start to meet people again.
Plane crashes are permanent, you're dead but relationship crashes, they are temporary.
We (meaning most frequent fliers) have had turbulent flights from time to time, but, that doesn't stop you from flying again, or does it?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such a great post!! No, we always get up and try again. :)

Unknown said...

& again & again! Thanks Larissa!