018: Crying on airplanes and waking up the dark
What a truly uplifting title for my first post after 23 weeks đ
Weâre just going to breeze by the fact that itâs been 23 weeks since I last shared anything here because whoâs really keeping track anyways? (I wasnât til just now when I asked Siri how many weeks ago May 18th - the date of volume 017 - was.)
Yesterday I was chatting with a friend about Taylorâs latest re-record and how I was jealous sheâd get to listen to it on an airplane because itâs the best place to cry. She was confusedâŚ
Her: âCrying in public!? I could never.â
Me: OMG crying on a plane is my favourite thing ever. You havenât lived til youâve sobbed on an airplane.
Her: Lmao has this happened to you a lot? Explain. Arenât people just staring at you and asking if youâre ok?
Me: Ok WHAT! It is a widely known fact (Iâm known to hyperbolize for dramatic effect ok? Let me live.) that crying on an airplane is a deeply cathartic experience. Itâs like a silent weeping situation⌠more tears than noise. Youâre crying at a movie. A song. At being lost in your own nostalgic thoughts. All of the above. And no, no is staring or asking you whatâs wrong because everyone GETS IT.
Iâm not a big cries openly in public person but airplane cry sessions hit different. Youâre in a metal tube flying through the air; the rest of your life is inaccessible and you can just let it all out. (I pretend airplane wifi isnât a thing because I like this delusion and also it always sucks so what is even the point).
Is anyone going to approach you if they notice? NO. Who wants to get stuck talking to someone quietly weeping on a plane? Literally no one. Weâre all flying through the air in a tin can minding our own business.
I felt so strongly about this being *A THING* that I proceeded - as one does - to post a poll to my Instagram stories asking whether or not people cry on airplanes. The multiple choice options were:
Almost always
I have before
What are you talking about?
The final results were:
Almost always: 22%
I have before: 49%
What are you talking about?: 28%
Then came the DMs. A few were, like my friend, confused by my passion for in-flight crying but most were from people who *get it*
literally taking a step on a plane makes me start to tear almost
i cry like everytime i fly
i SOBBBB if a movie is the least bit sad
I sobbed all the way from Toronto to Halifax with âexileâ on repeat (ok, this one was me).
Cried on a plane today
I love crying.
almost every time. Itâs so nice. Better than a shower cry. And I LOVE a shower cry.
I travel solo most of the time, and when Iâm on my own I feel like I cry many times a day hahaha. At every beautiful and sad thing I encounter. And then itâs so enhanced being up in the air, something with so much wonder.
I proceeded to share an incomplete list of reasons why Iâve cried on airplanes:
And then got these messages:
I feel this. Looking down on the tiny cities always gets me. Like little insignificant ants but always so significant all at the same time
Oh ok this is bringing a lot back for me now I have in fact cried on planes
And the MOST exciting one of all:
ok so there is actual science to this about how it is easier to cry on planes!!!!
If you Google âwhy Do I cry on planes?â a myriad of results will come up including articles from The Atlantic, CNN, NPR, Time Magazine, Popular Science and a travel points blogger. The science on the psychology of it seems to be a mixed bag (and perhaps not all that rigorous) but this made me LOL after all of the emoshhhonallll chats in my DMs:
The lower-than-normal air pressure in the cabin is known to induce mild hypoxia (reduced oxygen levels in the brain)
Turns out that perhaps weâre just oxygen deprived and therefore canât handle ourselves. Does it make me feel any differently about crying on planes? No. Iâll love it and do it forever and ever and I think you should too.
What I Loved This Week:
IRL Things I Loved This Week
Long early evening autumn walks with my friends
Dancing around my house to this song on multiple occasions.
Waking up in the dark now that itâs autumn (This is on the list because, as a sun worshipping girlie, I actually hate it very much but Iâm trying to convince myself to love it so hereâs to manifesting that â¨)
Exercising every. damn. day. (hence the early wake ups) because it makes my mental state 800% better.
Phone catch ups with long distance friends
Honourable mention: Listening to 1989 (Taylorâs Version) all day, all night (which hasnât technically happened yet at the time Iâm writing this but I know it will be by the time youâre reading this!
URL Things I Loved This Week
FINALLY getting back to inbox zero (we were reaching towards 500 and it was⌠concerning).
This woman. Her liberal use of hairspray and the F word made me fall in love with her immediately and her advice to treat yourself well because âthe better you treat yourself, the less bullshit youâll tolerate from other peopleâ sealed the deal. AMEN girl.
This follow has been a favourite for a while. I have a lot of uneasy feelings about AI but I DO think itâs pretty fucking cool that creatives can make art that is distinctly their own using it.
This triggered visceral memories. I loved the green moons. And the squares but turned so they looked like chunky diamonds.
A quote Iâm keeping closeÂ
Iâm so thankful weâre alive to smell flowers and touch saltwater and get chilled in the breeze and take deep breaths and make foods warm with love and dance and laugh and move and wake up and dig our hands in dirt and eat strawberries and draw mindlessly and remember and sing and joke and walk down the same street again and again and make meaning. We are so lucky we get to be and feel and keep going.
- Illeighsmith // tumblr