It’s Time to Let Go
Christian Muñoz ·
As this bus is heading towards Boryspil International Airport, I’m thinking you know—I’ve gotten over a lot of fears in my life:
The fear of love (at 29)
The fear of dogs (at 15)
The fear of failure (at 21)
The fear of change (at 25)
The fear of the dark (at 12)
The fear of success (at 28)
The fear of rejection (at 20)
The fear of elevators (at 13)
The fear of socializing (at 22)
The fear of fatherhood (at 33)
The fear of being alone (at 26)
The fear of commitment (at 30)
The fear of being judged (at 25)
The fear of moving away (at 26)
The fear of talking to girls (at 21)
The fear of being looked at (at 9)
The fear of public speaking (at 22)
The fear of doctors/dentists (at 20)
The fear of expressing myself (at 19)
The fear of crowds and open spaces (22)
The fear of asking store clerks for information at Macy’s—David Hidalgo can vouch for it. (at 21)
But there one fear that I haven’t conquered yet (this may come as a surprise) but it’s the mother fucking god damn (in my Samuel L. Jackson voice) fear of flying. I know, I know... for crying out loud, I’ve been in over 42 countries, 192 cities, in all the seasons, in all types of airplanes: from reputable world-class airlines to shady fourth-hand military aircraft. I usually pull through by thinking about my end destination, but on the way to all these wonderful and memorable places, I’m like a sick chicken (as my wife puts it) and now I’m tired of this feeling. Tired of the feeling of “falling” and panicky the moment the plane has a hiccup, tired of cutting off my blood circulation by tightening my seat belt, tired of not being able to enjoy the flight. As I’m heading to the airport, I don’t want to feel this uneasy anticipation anymore ever. I don’t want to numb myself with alcohol, weed, or some drugs either.
I want to get rid of this once and for all by myself; somehow, somewhere, someway...
I want to be able to snore my ass off when the plane is going through a hurricane, I want to peacefully enjoy the views while sipping on some wine, I want to be able to do other things like read, watch movie, or even I would love to be able to be on the other side calming and reassurance others with this thing while the plane is going through more bumps than this Odessa-Kyiv highway. I want to be the Bruce Willis of flying: cool, calm, and collected.
I guess why it matters now more than ever is just I see my son here, who is peacefully sleeping right now, and the last thing I want to do is pass it on to him.
It’s time to let it go.
It’s time to give it a go.
And it’s time to be his hero.
—
“Every father should remember one day his son will follow his example, not his advice.”
- Charles Kettering