Life is a Roller Coaster

October 23 was the last day I opened this post. I typed the title and entered my title picture and called it good. I do that a lot; I write the title and maybe a sentence or two, and then I stop writing for a few days. I gather my thoughts and then when I feel ready, I sit down and typically write it right then and there. (Hehe see what I did there? Write and right?!) Hopefully I can accomplish that today, but I make no promises.

Update: the day I worked on this was December 12. Then again on the 16th. It’s now December 28. Whoopsies!

I got off work early one day and brought a soda to a friend. She opened the door and immediately hugged me and started crying, expressing how much she needed someone to stop by. My heart was filled with so much love and gratitude. Love for her…love and gratitude for the prompting to stop by her house. We talked for a little bit, and then I went home. She asked me about my blog, and I voiced that I had hit a wall. I told her that I had the title down, a general idea of what I wanted to talk about, and the title image done. She said that perhaps, I was waiting for something to come along and make everything click together. Be the last piece in the puzzle. I never thought about it like that. Maybe I just couldn’t get the words out of my head because something else needed to happen in order for me to have a complete sense of what I need to talk about today.

I think that happened. Several times actually…and each time, I knew that it was something important that I needed to add. So here I am, and hopefully I have all the pieces to write the best possible post that I can write. Here we go!

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First let’s start with my very initial, original idea for this post and its title: “Life is A Rollercoaster.” I was thinking about this metaphor that people reference sometimes… that life has its ups and downs and loopy loops. I found it ironic that in life, downs are pretty miserable and not the most exciting part of life, yet they are the best parts of a roller coaster. (Don’t argue with me you know I’m right. 😉) Going up on a roller coaster is typically so boring and isn’t any fun, yet in life, being happy and being on the “up” is so amazing and so worth the wait. So isn’t that reference pretty interesting and ironic? Because typically, when a reference is made that life is like a rollercoaster, I don’t think anyone actually applies it to what it’s like riding a rollercoaster. First, rollercoasters are fun, and life…isn’t most of the time.

Okay you probably don’t care at all about that topic and idea, and that’s completely fair, but I wanted to mention the perplexing idea. You’re welcome. Deep thoughts are the name of the game in my head. AGH! (And for anyone who knows this reference…I lost THE game. Sad day…and just wondering, how do you ever win THE game? I feel like you can’t. Double sad.) If you don’t know what I’m referencing, you can ask me or just pretend you never read that and move on. Ahaha!

Before I hop into the next thing, I want to express how grateful I am for friends, family, and people whom wonder when my next blog post will be out and express to me their love for each post. You keep me writing, and I want to thank you from my bottom of my heart. Lots and lots of love! Please keep commenting and reading, it makes me happy!

Several weeks ago, (it was a long time ago…I don’t remember when) a friend text me, (let’s name her Sydney) expressing how frustrated she was with her sister. Her sister kept questioning how Sydney could possibly be sad all the time when her life was “pretty easy” and “not hard.” (I beg to differ, but that’s okay.) Her sister said that all she’s ever known is for Sydney to be down and depressed and has never seen her happy. Her sister grew irritated with Sydney and questioned why she had to complain and be depressed all the time. Hearing this, I felt sad and knew I needed to help. In fact, (a huge blessing) I immediately knew what to do. I downloaded Hank Smith’s Be Happy: Simple Secrets to a Happier Life (we had already bought it) and flipped to the chapter I needed…the one all about depression. I really want to post the entire thing here, so I think I’m going to. So here’s the citation down below, and if you want to buy the book, it’s pretty awesome. I highly recommend!

I think the chapter below will take about 10-15 minutes to read, but it’s so worth it. So if someone you love sent you this blog post to read, they probably want you to read this very chapter down below.

Smith, Hank. Be Happy: Simple Secrets to a Happier Life. American Fork, Ut, Covenant Communications, Inc, 2017.

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The reason I took the time to put the entire chapter here from Hank Smith’s book is because it explains why it is important to understand what depression is, how it affects someone, and how to help. Most importantly, it teaches one to respect depression. By this I mean, recognize that the one battling depression is a warrior in every sense of the word. Respecting depression means treating it as something that is real and is not in one’s head/imagination. Respecting depression means you are willing to be there and put in the effort necessary to love someone who has it. Because sometimes they want to be loved so badly but do not know how to communicate that. Respecting depression means you are wanting and willing to learn how to better validate and listen. Respecting depression means that you will stand up for those that cannot stand for themselves. This means that you don’t give up on them when they give up on themself.

Depression is a disease that people don’t have control over. Because trust me, for those that have depression, (like me) don’t you think they would choose to be happy if that could? Don’t you think they’ve already tried? And tried? And tried?

The next thing I want to talk about is that my family got a dog. (Trust me this applies!!!) I never thought I’d live to see the day that my parents would allow a dog to be a part of our family, but here we are! Crazy! Anyway, his parents live just around the corner of where we live, and when I took him for a walk one day, he directed me right there. I decided to knock since we are friends with the family there. The mom and I ended up talking for two hours! I was able to be there for her, and it was all thanks to Heaven’s hand, our dog. [insert huge smile here]

I just finished Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute. I’ve read it before, but I decided to download it as an audiobook and listen to it as I was in the car. It is super awesome and kind of life changing! Anyway, there is a character in the book, and her name is Jenny. Jenny was tricked into going to the program, so when she gets there, she bolts out of the car. Unfortunately, she had no shoes on. So here she was, barefoot, in Arizona, in the summertime, with 115* degree heat.

The Arbinger Institute doesn’t force anyone into their program, but they sent out leaders to follow her. At some point, the two young leaders, one being female and the other male, decided to take their shoes off too. They both followed her for 3 hours. Soon, all three of them had bloody and blistered feet. Jenny ran into a friend at the mall she had run to, and her friend convinced her to give the program a chance. All because the youth leaders were willing to be open to her; they were willing to put themselves in the same situation as Jenny so she knew that she wasn’t alone and forgotten.

I think the Savior is like that. He sees us without our shoes, feet bloody and blistered, and He takes his shoes off too. Because He loves us enough (and soo soo much) to show us that we are not alone. Nor are we forgotten.

The final thing I want to say is that life is hard. It has its ups and downs and loopy loops. It has its corkscrews and its tight turns. It sometimes squeezes us so tight that it is hard to breathe. So I want to tell you this: when life strikes you hard, find something small to make you happy that day. Find something to bring a little joy into your life. Find something to look forward to, to excite yourself when life is bleak. I suggest: reading a good book, watching a good movie or tv show, playing games with friends/family, exercising/playing sports, writing stuff down in a journal, (or even on a sticky note!) taking a hot shower, drawing/painting, and a myriad of other things.

We don’t have control in life of what happens to us or when the winds will blow. So take control of what you can, and do something today that makes you smile.

Okay so this blog post was All. Over. The. Place. So to reiterate

• Follow promptings! Your friends may need you!
• Life is a crazy rollercoaster
• I’m grateful for the people who love and care about my blog 😉
• Please take the time to understand depression
• Read Hank Smith’s chapter on depression
• Then after learning and understanding it, respect the difficulty of the despair.
• Love them all the harder! (This doesn’t mean smothering them…do what is best for them)
• Family dog!!! =God uses all things available as his instruments to spread love and comfort.
• Arbinger Institute and Jenny
• Jesus Christ takes off his shoes too.
• Do something that brings you joy

Finally, life is a rollercoaster, but I know it will be worth the ride. The best is yet to come.

You Will Be Found