Are You Going to Ride with Your Hands in the Air or Screaming?
Recent life chats with friends have brought up the roller coaster theme. One of my friends asked me, "Are you ever going to get off the ride, because at some point you might want to do that." Another friend who is less skeptical of roller coaster rides talked about it differently. I liked her reflections on life's roller coaster ride.
She said, "Would you rather take the ride with your hands in the air and a smile on your face? Or would you rather scream all the way through it?"
Love that question. I told her once about roller coasters, "I used to be afraid of them. And then one day I thought, "Well, hell nobody really ever dies on the ride so go with it."
Life is full of ups and downs as I'm sure you've now picked up on the metaphor. I'm exploring my feelings about a long-time relationship I've had where there have been many extraordinary highs and some definite lows. I'll be honest, I've spent most of the ride screaming ;). But what my friend offered about it is true. I can experience it screaming and living in fear or I can embrace it and put my hands in the air. Well, since screaming is causing a whole lot of heartburn and angst, I think it's time to put my hands in the air and just go with it.
If you know the goal. If you know where you're trying to go then it's time to just put up your hands. The real poetry is in going with it. See where the ride takes you. But like my other friend said, it's actually not about trying to get off the ride as quickly as possible. The truth is that most things in life go up and then they go down. But at the core you have to know what it is that you want. If you know what you want then take the ride and let it continue. Truth is, most things in life go up and then they go down -- and the beauty of it, you can't know the highs from the lows unless you've experienced both.
She said, "Would you rather take the ride with your hands in the air and a smile on your face? Or would you rather scream all the way through it?"
Love that question. I told her once about roller coasters, "I used to be afraid of them. And then one day I thought, "Well, hell nobody really ever dies on the ride so go with it."
Life is full of ups and downs as I'm sure you've now picked up on the metaphor. I'm exploring my feelings about a long-time relationship I've had where there have been many extraordinary highs and some definite lows. I'll be honest, I've spent most of the ride screaming ;). But what my friend offered about it is true. I can experience it screaming and living in fear or I can embrace it and put my hands in the air. Well, since screaming is causing a whole lot of heartburn and angst, I think it's time to put my hands in the air and just go with it.
If you know the goal. If you know where you're trying to go then it's time to just put up your hands. The real poetry is in going with it. See where the ride takes you. But like my other friend said, it's actually not about trying to get off the ride as quickly as possible. The truth is that most things in life go up and then they go down. But at the core you have to know what it is that you want. If you know what you want then take the ride and let it continue. Truth is, most things in life go up and then they go down -- and the beauty of it, you can't know the highs from the lows unless you've experienced both.
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