A life goes by, romantic dreams must die,
So I bid mine goodbye, and never knew
So close was waiting, waiting here with you,
And now forever I know,
All that I wanted, to hold you so close...
Oh how could I face the faceless days
If I should lose you now?
We're so close to reaching that famous happy ending,
Almost believing this one's not pretend,
Let's go on dreaming,
Though we know we are so close,
So close, and still,
So far.
So Close Alan Menken Enchanted Original Soundtrack

lets be real.
life is not the romantic fantasy portrayed in the ever popular mediums of film and song. these fantasies are supposedly the ideal that we should aim towards, in order to be truly happy. but all they do is build up unrealistic expectations. we don't live in an ideal world, so it follows that we can never achieve an ideal relationship with someone. sure, we can aspire towards this, but at a certain point there comes a realisation that no matter how hard we try, we can't get exactly what we want. but having made this realisation, does that mean we have to give up, and grieve over lost dreams that were never to be?
no, for what good would that serve? how can you appreciate what you have now if you insist on despairing over that which you cannot attain?
perhaps we don't have exactly what we want right now. but if we have what we need, the key elements of what we want, then we should count ourselves lucky. for we're doing better than those in the romantic movies. those people are only pretending, after all.
so even though it's cliché, and even though it won't get you the ideal, follow your heart for as long as it's still beating. it won't take you to that perfect place of your dreams, but at least it could get you somewhere close by.