This Rollercoaster Called Life
“With peaks of joy and valleys of heartache, life is a roller coaster ride, the rise and fall of which defines our journey. It is both scary and exciting at the same time.” ~ Sebastian Cole
Life is a paradox. We can experience any number of emotions all at the exact same time. We can feel happiness due to one event taking place while feeling sad or stressed over another. Tears of joy & pain can be shed simultaneously. This was one of those weeks for me. While feeling excited over the initial success of a new venture, I also shed tears over the possibility of losing an ill family member. My heart is all over the place, and the emotions come in waves. I’ve never been in this position before, and it has me contemplating this rollercoaster called life. You never really know what life is going to present you with & when. It’s like riding a rollercoaster blindfolded. And there are times when the restraints feel ineffective, and that you could fly out of your seat at any given moment.
“People struggle with moments of deep dread about life and moments of surety. Often within the course of the same day. Life is a rollercoaster, especially if you take risks.” ~ Ann Nocenti
Let’s be real. Existing on this earth is a risk. You don’t even have to leave your home to experience trauma. Trauma can arrive on your doorstep at any given moment. For this reason, you must decide what type of life you want to live and, more importantly, flow in the energy of your choice. You can live in fear viewing everything as too risky, or you can choose to live your life to the fullest. A life saturated in fear isn’t a life at all. It’s a prison. A prison of your own making. When you choose to live this way, nothing gets in & nothing gets out. Love, friendship, travel, and peace of mind are some of the casualties that result from this mindset. But when your goal is to leave this world with a life well lived, you give yourself the freedom to experience all the good things this world has to offer.
“Trajectories aren’t linear. Life’s just a rollercoaster. If you’re getting a chance to do cool stuff, and it’s varied stuff, just enjoy it. I guess I’m a believer in the randomness of life rather than it being a linear trajectory or an arc, a consistent smooth arc, towards anything.”
~ Riz Ahmed
As I’ve written before, growth isn’t linear. There’s steps, stages, and degrees to the process. And it would be to your benefit to embrace the randomness of life than attempt to stifle it. When you stifle your own progress stagnation sets in. There are millions of people who’ve found their happy place in the stagnation, but their refusal to grow has left so many wonderful opportunities on the table. You owe it to yourself to explore, experiment, fail, and succeed your way into the next adventure. And then repeat. To paraphrase a line from the movie Shawshank Redemption, you can either get busy living or get busy dying. It’s your choice. But I highly recommend choosing to live. We’re all going to leave this earth at some point. Make the most of the journey along the way.
“Giving up is conceding that things will never get better, and that is just not true. Ups and downs are a constant in life, and I’ve been belted into that rollercoaster a thousand times.” ~ Aimee Mullins
If you give up on life, you already know how your story is going to end. Where’s the joy in that? Whether you choose to live in fear or live in hope, ups & downs will be a constant. But if you choose to live in hope, there’s an expectation that things will get better in time. A knowing that you will succeed in due time. A belief that the best is yet to come. As long as you’re above ground there will be challenges. But there’s also the strong possibility you’ll overcome those challenges in due time. Life should be lived to the fullest…not merely tolerated. But it’s up to you. You’re on the rollercoaster of life whether you like it or not. So, you can either decide to throw your hands up, laugh, scream, and enjoy the ride…or you can close your eyes, grit your teeth, and hope the ride ends soon. To choose the latter would be a huge waste of the blessing of life God has bestowed upon you.
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