In nearly every life situation–whether personal or professional–there are ups and downs. It’s the rollercoaster of life that we all get to ride. Sometimes things are looking up and sometimes, they’re not.
And holding on to keep yourself steady is the hardest part of all.
There are those days when everything’s going great. The sun is shining and there’s not a cloud in the sky. People are driving with the windows down and the music up. Kids are playing in the front yard and people are riding their bikes in the park. Neighbors wave hello to each other. Drivers let you over into their lane without honking (and even wave back after you wave to thank them). Everyone’s smiling, generous, thoughtful, polite, nice and happy. Everything seems easy. And you think to yourself, “Life is good.”
That is, until you get a nasty e-mail from a client or coworker, lose your keys, get rear-ended in the parking lot, trip over a step and snap the heel off your new pumps, have to stay late at work, spill soup down the front of your shirt, sit in traffic for over an hour, forget to pick up your dry cleaning, have no time to go to the gym, get a paper cut, sit on your glasses or somehow get a virus on your computer. Or have a looming, huge life-changing decision that you need to make.
You’re no longer riding the high you felt when your day was filled with sunshine, music and happiness. At this point, all you want to do is draw the curtains closed, turn off the lights, crawl into bed, pull the sheets over your head and never. come. out.
We’ve all had these kinds of days.
It’s a never-ending (and sometimes scary) rollercoaster ride.
No one tells you that grown-up life is going to be this way. People say you graduate from high school, go off to college, graduate and get a job. It seems so clear and easy. But the thing they don’t tell you, is that those grey, what-do-I-do-if-this-or-that-happens areas aren’t clearly defined at all. You learn to figure everything out along the way.
Things change. People change. Life changes. You change.
I’m not at the same place I was a year ago, two years ago or when I graduated from college. I have new desires, needs, ambitions and dreams. And right now, that’s my biggest struggle.
Do I embrace some new change even with the glaring uncertainty that my rollercoaster could take a big turn and head south? Or do I take a chance and brave the ride for the possibility of some incredible relief, accomplishment and happiness at the end? I guess for now, I just hold on tight.
Plus, we all know rollercoasters can be scary–and this one’s a big one.
- L
