I had a related one as a teenager: there are various expressions about women being too beautiful to look at or that it hurt to look at, etc. I thought they were all overwrought literary expressions—a woman you loved or had a crush on, sure, that’s love, but just a random woman? - until I went to dinner in a group which happened to include such a woman.
(Thankfully, being a large group in a noisy restaurant, I could get away with not looking at her all evening; although I got a little angry this could even be a thing—I never signed up for that! I’ve wondered if or how long it’d take for that to wear off, but I never saw her again, so I have no idea.)
I had a related one as a teenager: there are various expressions about women being too beautiful to look at or that it hurt to look at, etc. I thought they were all overwrought literary expressions—a woman you loved or had a crush on, sure, that’s love, but just a random woman? - until I went to dinner in a group which happened to include such a woman.
(Thankfully, being a large group in a noisy restaurant, I could get away with not looking at her all evening; although I got a little angry this could even be a thing—I never signed up for that! I’ve wondered if or how long it’d take for that to wear off, but I never saw her again, so I have no idea.)