My Life Is a Cliché
When HBO Max became just Max, I did what everyone else did: binged all 1,000 seasons of House Hunters International.
No matter what I'm doing, I have the show playing in the background, filling the house with the relaxing ambiance of "I want to live in the city center" and "This apartment doesn't feel like Spain."
One thing I noticed was how similar everyone who goes on this show is. It's always a couple in their 30s who's looking to completely change their life after a tragedy by moving to Europe, where they'll spend their days drinking espresso in cute coffee shops and writing that novel they've been trying to write for ages. "The change of scenery will be inspiring," they all say.
As I'm watching (listening) to this, I always think: "I bet they haven't written anything. Whatever problems they're running from, they're just bringing it with them."
I know this because I'm like this, and honestly, it's such a cliché.
After losing my dog, my husband and I have grieved in two completely different ways. I've been low-energy and depressed. All I want to do are self-soothing activities like playing video games or going on YouTube and watching other people play video games (the future is weird).
My husband, however, is the opposite. He's been in planning-mode and has planned three trips for us this year, which he says is better than just "sitting around being sad."
He's planned a weekend trip for my birthday, and then we're off to Los Angeles to see his sister the following month, and then the month after that we're back in NYC to see friends, and then after that we're taking a two-week trip to Morocco. He has a whole itinerary and everything. We're gonna travel the world!! It's gonna be so inspiring!! We're gonna get so much writing done!!!
Honestly, what we're doing, although different, is the same thing. We're both running from reality, spurred by grief. We're no different than the House Hunters people who move to Thailand with no job after a parent dies, but they're not worried about it because any new reality will be better than the one they're coming from.
Although I'll admit, I'm such a cynic. Four months from now I'll probably write a post that's all, "Traveling was really good for me, mentally!!" I just think it's funny how similar human beings are, and I hate seeing people who remind me of myself because I realize how ridiculous I look. Or maybe it's just me.