I always meet people who are on a parallel journey. We have such similar experiences, it is as if I am looking at my reflection in a mirror.  I place my face in the cardboard cutout of their lives and it is almost mine – except my right is their left. You get what I mean?

I was talking to that girl in the mirror and she made a statement that resonated with my own situation. When you feel you are over the 'what-ifs' of long lost love, that is the exact moment he/she calls, texts or just shows up. It is never at a moment when everything is rosy in your life, when you are strong and content. It is at the height of the being tossed to and fro on a stormy sea. Here comes that old familiar comfort. You know it is not what you want/need but it provides solace.

As you are on the sea, alone on a boat trying desperately to get to that place of promise – the happily ever after. The sun beats, the waves toss and you have been sailing for what feels like forever. Yet, you keep moving on because you have faith in the One who keeps every promise that your destination will be worth the journey.

A mirage appears. It looks like land, you want it to be land – but is it? The attractiveness of this phantasm is so strong.  

A mirage is a real phenomenon caused by refracting light. "What the image appears to represent, however, is determined by the interpretive faculties of the human mind." Source

Our minds give it power. The more you think about a thing the more 'real' it becomes. The battle starts, is fought, and is won or lost in the mind.

The lesson in all of this:

Keep your mind right. Keep sailing. Stay on track. You will not have to go chasing a fantasy. You will know when you hit land because your boat will stop.