Emotional Rollercoaster
Emotions are a necessary part of being human. Sometimes we get to experience the emotional rollercoaster of life and wonder after the jolts and jars if it is all worth it. I’m here today to tell you I am grateful for the emotional ride I’ve been able to survive during my lifetime, and I’m sure there are many more ups and downs yet to come in my future. The good news is the ride seems to be leveling out a bit, and the ups and downs aren’t so scary anymore.
Emotional Rollercoaster
Emotions are a necessary part of being human. Sometimes we get to experience the emotional rollercoaster of life and wonder after the jolts and jars if it is all worth it. I’m here today to tell you I am grateful for the emotional ride I’ve been able to survive during my lifetime, and I’m sure there are many more ups and downs yet to come in my future. The good news is the ride seems to be leveling out a bit, and the ups and downs aren’t so scary anymore.
It seems the biggest upheaval we get in our early life is our experiences with first love. The incredible highs combined with the desperate lows are a good preparation for the shakes and shimmies yet to come in later life. The girl I was passionately in love with in junior high continued to be the flame of my teenage years, and whenever I saw her after we broke up my heart with flutter and skip. Even when I would go to the mall and see her working at Orange Julius; be still my heart. And this was after she had a new boyfriend and wasn’t even available.
Perhaps you have had a similar experience, and still carry a secret flame for someone in your past. It seems we are always hearing about some octogenarians finding their true love from high school and getting back together. It is interesting that those images from so long ago can continue to circulate in our brains.
Children bring up an entirely new set of emotions. When they are young, they help us remember how fast emotions can change. From happy to snarling, to whining, to crying; which can all happen in moments. They are packages of extreme emotions, and as we learn to regulate our own emotions in response to their outbursts, our emotional rollercoaster doesn’t really slow down. It just seems to moderate.
Lifelong partners can teach us much about emotion, and as they go through their ups and downs, we get to help them cope with the changes. They also get to help us as we go through all of our own problems, and we may even get to experience some of these emotions together. But at one point or another, one of us leaves this life first. This emotional ride can break some of us.
We have the same struggle when our parents are gone. Where once a strong support and encouragement we could depend on was just a phone call away, now an empty space remains with only memories to sustain us.
It is a strange incongruity that the highs and lows make up most of the memories of our lives. The regular days blend together and the routine gets lost in the continued sameness, but the emotional rollercoaster we call life shows us just how good and how bad life can be. It reminds us we are alive.
It’s like George Santayana once said. “There is no cure for birth or death save to enjoy the interval.” Can we enjoy the ups and endure the downs? We only get one pass, and 31 millions seconds per year is all anyone gets. As we spend our seconds, we get a chance to help others as they negotiate their own rollercoaster. Our own experiences may be the guide someone else needs, so that they too can understand, “This too shall pass.” This phrase is based on the Old Testament story tells of King Solomon requesting his minister to find the ring which makes a happy man sad and a sad man happy. After searching, a merchant engraved a ring for the minister, which he gave to Solomon. As King Solomon received the ring, which he supposed did not exist, he became very somber. The phrase, “This too shall pass” made Solomon realize the reality of this fleeting moment of happiness, and of the passing of the sad moment. Abraham Lincoln said this of the moral of the story. “How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!”
So this week as you experience the ups and downs we all have to endure, remember what thrills you sought as you boarded this emotional rollercoaster. And remember, the ride must someday end, so enjoy the ride while it lasts. Ups and downs, sadness and happiness; just remember how lucky we are to be here sharing this incredible universe. The fact it exists, that we exist, that we can help each other along on this wonderful journey called life is such a miracle in itself. Just don’t forget the miraculous as you travel the mundane. Watch for those special moments which tell us we are really here for a reason. Enjoy the ride.
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Emotional Rollercoaster
