Читать книгу Souls of My Young Sisters: - Dawn Marie Daniels - Страница 16

It’s been quite a roller-coaster ride, but I’ve grown and learned a lot about myself. The greatest thing is being able to interact with fans and touch people’s lives…for that I give thanks.

—Christina Aguilera

Oftentimes, we find ourselves in dark places in our life’s journey. You may feel happy, successful, and accomplished one day and down in the dumps the next. Life is similar to a roller coaster. You wait in line with anticipation for the experience just as you wait to grow up. You get to the front of the line with butterflies fluttering in your stomach because you’re next. That up-next anticipation is similar to the milestones we set in our lives, like what we’ll do when we turn eighteen, twenty-five, or thirty.

Then finally it’s your turn. You get in the car and buckle up. Just as in life, there are some things we need to brace ourselves for, so we, too, must buckle up. Then as the roller coaster slowly climbs to the summit, it feels almost like we know what’s ahead, but this part is full of wonder and taking in the true depth of the climb. We, too, have those moments when things are moving steadily along in life where we can take in the experience and enjoy the view.

Then it happens, the plummet that takes our breath away! The wind and gravity blowing you back and feeling as if your stomach is in your throat—you think to yourself, Why did I do this? The fear and low points in our lives lead us to question the same thing—Why did I do this? It was exciting, but it’s scary and totally out of my control. Once you get past the first descent, you may experience a few loops, twists, turns, and a couple of more drops. That’s life. We get turned around sometimes, and twists and turns do arise.

Finally, you are back on the ground where you began, but in a different place. You exit on the opposite side and leave a little bit different for the experience. Life is much like this roller-coaster ride. You may go through the twists and turns of life, but you come out of these experiences different—new. Once you understand that the twists and turns in your life don’t last forever, you are better prepared to take the risk to go through them. We all go through ups and downs, but how you look at the situation will determine how you get through it. If you never wanted to get on the roller coaster and you resist all the way, you will have a hard time and never want to get on it again. But if you look at the twists and turns of life as part of the ride, you will be able to move with them and know that you will leave on the other side a new person.

The women in this section of the book have had some mighty roller-coaster rides, but they have come out stronger, more confident, brand new, and able to tell you that you, too, can do the same. You may be saying that you don’t even like roller-coaster rides, or you’ve never been on one, but we’re here to tell you from experience, you have. You may not have gotten on an actual one, but you have experienced the ups and downs of life and you are different than you were before your experiences.

Know that if you anticipate the ride, you will be better prepared to be the new person after the ride. You may even want to dare to get on again and again. We want to see you enjoy the ride and become brand new.