Taking Flight

I’m awaiting my flight to Scotland in the JFK airport and am host to a range of emotions. My stomach holds excitement for adventure ahead, fear for loosing my way, anxiety for the unknown, and unease that my expectations may go unmet. It’s the ideal recipe for strengthening the senses and weakening the muscles.

This swirling blend of anticipation and apprehension acts as a key to other memories. I am brought back to the beginning of other experiences: arriving at our new home in Ohio, move in day at John Carroll, and my first day as a Boston resident. Each memory reminds me that the meekness and unfamiliarity I feel now eventually give way to familiarity and comfort.

If experience can be trusted, my anxieties will be unfounded and at the least unhelpful. This makes me wonder, what if I could separate these emotions turning in my stomach? Allow those that heighten my senses to stay and bid farewell to the occupants dissolving my calm. After all, shouldn’t my emotions respond to me rather than the other way around?