Today is the day I decided to get off the "Roller Coaster"

What is the name of your roller coaster? by Tanya Martin

A good friend of mine, Robin May wrote this and it blessed me tremendously, so I wanted to share it with you all. You can also read her other posts at   http://virtuespeaks.wordpress.com/author/virtuespeaks/

Many years ago while at Six Flags I realized something.  I was getting off of one of the roller coasters and I realized that being on roller coasters was no longer fun for me. 

I know.  It sounds odd. 

But I literally stepped off of some ride at Six Flags and I realized that the ride wasn’t fun to me anymore.  The sliding from side to side, the jerking from front to back, the feeling of losing control…all of the things that I had just experienced on that ride was not what I called a good time. And I haven’t gotten on a roller coaster since.

During that same time in my life there was a lot going on in my romantic relationship.  Lee and I had been dating for a while and it seemed that our relationship was a lot like that roller coaster ride.  We’d have unhealthy ups and downs. Not simply the normal cycle that happens in relationships, but this was way more unstable.  I would feel pulled towards him and then pushed away.  I felt like I never knew what to expect when it came to the status of our relationship.  And so around the same time that I realized that I didn’t like the roller coasters at Six Flags, I realized that the romantic roller coaster wasn’t doing it for me either. And that crazy pattern had been going on for many years and I just couldn’t do it anymore.

And so, we broke up.

Most of you know how the story went from there and even if you don’t, at the very least you know we ended up married and have been now for almost 10 years. But marriage didn’t come until we both were more emotionally healthy and mature.  Well. At least I hope we are…! Lol.

But seriously, I learned a valuable lesson during that season of my life. I learned that my life does not have to be unpredictable all the time.  Yes, life does throw us curve balls.  And yes there are times when things happen that we don’t expect.

But if you are like me, you have found yourself confused…overwhelmed…frustrated…emotionally drained and exhausted not simply because of ‘life’ but because of a particular person or situation that you have given full access to your life.

And just like I did many years ago…many of us today…right now…need to decide that we no longer enjoy the drama that comes from an emotional or psychological roller coaster.

As a matter of fact.  I want you to think of a situation right now where you find yourself going from one extreme to the next.  Your emotions are all over the place. This situation triggers feelings of uncertainty consistently.  One week you are happy and the next week you are sad.  One day you are secure and the next day you are scared.  One minute you have clarity and the next moment you are confused.  

Now I want you to answer these questions: 

*  How do you contribute to that chaos in your life? 

*  What can you do differently to decrease the uncertainty and the instability? 

*  What part of the situation do you have the power to control? What is beyond your control?

*  What do you need to let go of in order to fully experience peace regardless if your situation changes or not?

I don’t know what the name of your Roller Coaster is.  Maybe it’s the The Dragster. The Millennium Force. The Goliath. The Voyage or The cyclone.

Maybe your Roller Coaster is the name of your significant other, your ex, your child  or the name of your Company.

I don’t know the name of your Roller Coaster.  But I do know that it is so easy to blame a person or a situation, but the truth is no one can make you ride a roller coaster.  You choose to sit down, put on your seat buckle and go for the ride.

And if you have decided that you are no longer enjoying the ride, it’s up to you to decide what you are going to do about it.

Now. That doesn’t mean you have to get rid of that person, that job or that situation all together.  But what it does mean is that only you can determine what your experience is within that situation.  And if you don’t like what you have been experiencing, decide what you need to do to have a different one.

And can I be honest?  If any of this applies to you, you are not alone.  I have a couple of “Roller Coasters” in my life right now.  And I am committing be quiet enough to decide what I need to do differently to have the experience that I believe I am supposed to have in my particular situations. 

 Will you join me?  Will you take some time to see what you need to do differently? I think it’ll be well worth your time. And once we have our answers…I’ll meet you at Six Flags.

But I’m still not riding any of the Roller Coasters.

 ^“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” – James 1:5-9