“I wish I was a balloon.” - My friend says interrupting my thoughts.

“What? Why” I replied startled.

“Why not?” another friend chimes in.

“I’d never come down, just drift off, and let the wind take me where it wants to take me” she says as she sighs deeply.

I laugh realizing she’s right. Traveling in a balloon you can decide only when to start, and usually when to stop. The rest is entirely up to nature.

It was a late summer day, the wind was blowing, and we were surrounded by the noise of music, rides, and conversation. We found ourselves with our legs stretched out, sitting on top of a blanket on a hill, observing as one by one hot air balloons were being sent into the sky. We sat there and watched how one by one was slowly but surely rising. And before we knew it the sky was filled with them, each with their own charm.

Later on that day I got to thinking about relationships and about our own baggage that at times weighs us down and does not allow us to soar into the skies freely with out fear.

When a break up occurs the loose ends you try to tie usually unravel. Pain infiltrates deep into our souls. And even though it is true that Pain can be a burden, it can also be an anchor, we get used to it, to how it holds us to place.

Ironically we get used to it so much… it becomes our crutch. That infinite reason we use to justify every action or decision with. Every standard and all our reasoning. It’s not that we don’t want to be happy again… it’s just that the stakes are high and the risk of losing your heart to love willingly and blindly seems completely irrational. Instead of allowing ourselves to reset and start again we carry the past as baggage. Baggage that must be a part of every venture that we embark upon. Every relationship that we attempt to build on.

“La vida sigue mi niña, a veces aunque queramos o no” my grandmother told me that once. There is a lot of truth in those words. Life goes on whether we’d like it to or not. And there comes a time when after all the healing is done we must choose where to go from here. Where to venture off to.

As a hot air balloon is being lifted, extra weight has to be removed in order for them to lift off. And we too, like a hot air balloon, have to let go of our anchors, of the things that hold us down… So we can save what is left of us. So we can really live. So we can experience life and love and all its bittersweet moments.

We must unload all the baggage that comes with the past and past relationships. We have to smile at the horizon and cleanse ourselves from what toxic thoughts we have that weigh us down. And before you know it there will be a moment of closure, a moment of redemption that allows your heart to start beating once more. A moment that will let you know its okay to start living and loving again. Time can heal a broken heart and it can erase all the bitterness so that things don’t seem so tragic after all.

See I agree when someone says moving on is hard to do. But I also believe, that if you Really want to be happy… it is not as hard as you’d think.