The Roller Coaster We Call Life

Sometimes I like to look at life as a rollercoaster. It has its up and downs, parts that are thrilling, boring and parts that grow excitement for the rest of the ride! But there is always one part that is always constant throughout my life... Before you can go up you have to go down.

Just like a roller coaster before you can go back up the hill you have to go down to gain the speed needed to make it to the top! In sports its the hardest losses and disappointments that motivate you to become better, to work harder and become great! In life its the lows that help you get the faith and desire to get back up that hill. The problem is with roller coasters its simple physics that brings it back up, but in life you have to work a little harder to get back up, and that isn't always easy to do. I know that in order for me to appreciate and have the good times I have to work through those hard times, but even with that knowledge it seems to get harder and harder every time.

When I was wrestling in High School there was a point where I almost gave up, I was coming to practice every day, getting my butt kicked by better wrestlers with more experience, getting yelled at for not being able to run fast enough and it was pure hell! At the time the work did not seem worth the reward! The hell i was going through 2 times a day, 4 times a day all for 8 min of wrestling during the week and 20-30 min on the weekends! One point I told myself I was done! Its not worth it!... But I didn't quit! With encouragement from my parents, coaches and friends I came back! It was that low that made me work harder, if I was going through hell I was going to start winning and make it worth it! I grew a large desire to come back the next year and be a wrestler that people knew! Not as a simple win but they worry about wrestling me! Over the next 2 years with hard work and dedication I worked my way up to #4 in my weight in all of Utah and the highlight of my senior year when I beat a wrestler that was ranked 7th in the Nation! I didn't ever take state! But with the limited experience that i had in wrestling I became a known wrestler and exceeded the expectations I should have met!

Those experience help me to realize I need to keep strong and need to keep going, that soon enough the roller coaster will come back up! Its my friends and family that help me down the hill so when its time to go back up I have what it takes to make it! I have overcome many hills in my life... But it also seems that every hill I need to overcome gets bigger and bigger! Im not worried about falling off the roller coaster... But there is a side of me that worries how big the next one will be, or when i can get a quick break in between! Or when I will overcome the large hills that I don't have complete control over! But I realize that in my life, there will be a up... The hills will be over come, and eventually I will be back on top! That I need to enjoy it cause soon enough I will be going back down! But I also know that in life, just like in wrestling, if I stick it out, if I work all the way through, even if its hell during... That in the end I will exceed expectations, and that the real joy from the journey will begin!