Sometimes things don’t go according to plan. Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches. Sometimes, life happens.
As many of you may have seen on my Instagram, this past weekend Matthew and I were supposed to drive to New Orleans for 2 of our closest friends’ wedding. Well, turns out I-10 was closed at the border of Texas and Louisiana due to severe flooding. Yes, we could have gone the alternate route, but that would have doubled the length of the trip, and that wasn’t possible with our schedules. SO, our only option was to fly, and so we did.
To backtrack a bit, way back I wrote about my anxiety surrounding flying. I ‘got over’ that anxiety (or so I thought) for a period of time, but then it creeped up again last May when I had 5 roundtrip flights in a row that month. I ended up canceling all those trips, and missing out on some very important events and occasions. Up until a couple weeks ago (my Boston trip), I hadn’t flown in a year. And then, as I just mentioned, I flew this past weekend.
I made a promise to myself that I would not allow myself to miss important life events for family and friends due to my ‘fear’ of flying. Up until this damn ‘fear’ (I keep putting ‘fear’ in quotes because I have narrowed it down to discomfort – I’m not scared of flying, but it just makes me VERY uncomfortable, specifically turbulence…so is it a fear? Not really even sure I’d call it that) of mine kicked in (about 4-5 years ago), I didn’t miss anything. I flew everywhere. Well, for the past few years I’ve missed out on A LOT of things. And it killed me to do so. My nephew’s 1st birthday? Missed that. Some of my closest friends weddings and/or bachelorette parties? Yep, that too. My brother’s 30th birthday party? Yep, that one, as well.
I’m not telling you this to feel sorry for me because I DO NOT want pity or sympathy (that’s not the point of this post). I’m telling you this as to paint a picture in your mind why I finally got the courage to make myself this promise.
It’s one thing if I have a conflict and I can’t be at an event or occasion, but my ‘fear’ of flying is NOT going to be a reason anymore. I won’t let it. I just won’t.
So, this past weekend, I flew; oh and I made it just fine. Did I like the flights? No, not particularly, but I did it, and I had the most amazing weekend celebrating 2 very special people in my life.
Many things in life are unexpected. Some serious and some not so serious. Dealing with those curveballs can often times be challenging, but also extremely worth it.
And sometimes it’s worth that temporary feeling of discomfort to get to where you need (and want) to be.
Image borrowed from Pinterest