Rollercoaster

Most people have an opinion on roller coasters.  They either love them and want to go to every theme park that they can, trying out the highest, fastest, twistiest roller coasters that they can OR they hate them.  I am one of the haters, unfortunately.  I think of myself as a relatively adventurous individual.  I like to do mud runs, travel, meet new people and try new things.  But, I can't deal with the feeling that I get when I ride a roller coaster.  The anxiety in the anticipation of getting on the ride or rising to the top of an impending drop.  The squeamish feeling in my stomach when the drop finally arrives.  Frankly, it all makes me want to throw up.

I looked up the science of this roller coaster feeling to try and understand it better.  Basically, I wanted to know if there was any way to control it.  Short answer is, no.  Long answer is that the constant force of gravity normally causes all the parts of you body to be pushing on each other.  Because of this, 'free fall' is a time where we are essentially weightless as the feeling of gravity is gone.  Your stomach is not used to this at all and when it is suddenly so much lighter, that typical sinking feeling that you experience is produced.  To a lesser extent, this sinking feeling can also happen when descending in an elevator or driving down a dip in the road.  

I dug deeper into this because of who I am as a person.  I found some stats on how dangerous roller coasters actually are.  According to the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions, the chance of being injured on a fixed-site ride is 1 in 17 million.  You have a higher likelihood of being struck by lightning or dying in a car crash.  Statistics aside, I still don't like it.

2020 and frankly the two years leading up to this dumpster fire of a year, have felt like I have been forcibly strapped onto a rollercoaster.  The ups and downs and anxiety of what is coming next have been the only constants that I can count on.  Just as statistics tell me rollercoasters are safe, I've been hearing from all directions that 'this too will pass' and 'just keep working'.  There are definitely times when I don't care what statistics say and I don't believe that things will pass.  We've been hearing a lot about the concept of a 'new normal' as we look to the future post-pandemic (whenever the hell that will actually be).  I, for one, didn't want a new normal in many areas of my life.... but I've been slowly forced into one.

Some days the positive attitude succeeds and I can tell myself that I'm on a journey.  But other days, I have discovered that I just need to let myself FEEL the negativity that creeps up.  If I don't decompress every once in a while, it's obvious to me that I'm more likely to feel down.  For instance, one day recently I was feeling kind of bummed out, but tried to fight through it instead of acknowledging those feelings.  Then, all it took to set me off was one small thing.  My bathroom toilet wouldn't stop running.  I was sitting at my computer, trying to job search and the sound of the running toilet was annoying the crap out of me.  I tried to fix it, I looked online to see what I was doing wrong and I could NOT get the thing to stop running.  And I absolutely LOST IT.  I was going through a loop de loop on a rollercoaster and I just wanted to get off.

But, unfortunately, the current rollercoaster isn't voluntary.  I've found that recognizing and acknowledging that negative feelings are normal sometimes has been helpful for me.  We, as humans, are not built to be constantly 'on'.  So while some flexibility and improvisation is good, it's also incredibly important to take time for yourself to feel all of your feelings, the good, the bad and the ugly.     

-Vicky

Roller Coaster Science Article


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waves

Image
I've recently started doing some research on the recommendations for women when they begin trying to conceive (TTC - a new abbreviation that I've become aware of).  The internet, as many of us know, can sometimes be a bit of a black hole.  You go in looking for one thing and come out with a million more questions and even more confusion than you started with.  Which is why, I didn't JUST go to the internet.  I also sent texts out to all of my friends who are already mommas and asked them to share with me what they did during this stage. What I received from friends was a sense of excitement that this journey was close to beginning for me, knowledge sharing about what worked for them, questions about the timing we were considering, and ultimately just support and an offer of being there for whatever questions come up during my research & the process in general. I maybe shouldn't have chosen the week of my period to dive into all of this.... as most women know, hor...
Read more

Younger

Image
I have two fabulous friends who both work in the TV/film industry as second assistant directors.  I wish I could say that I was even one tenth the connoisseur of their art as they are, but sadly I only dabble.  I just recently started watching a show that one of them worked on a few seasons of -  Younger .  More on that later...    This weekend, I found myself getting the scary news that one of my best friends was suddenly in the hospital.  This friend is a generally healthy, active, and wonderful individual.  Their partner texted me early one morning that they had an arterial dissection on the back of their head at the base of their neck. I'm not happy to share that I've actually had two other close friends go through something terrifyingly similar over the past few years.  Neither of these friends were really given a clear answer as to why they had these episodes.  The recovery, though lengthy and requiring close monitoring near the ...
Read more

Stoplight

Image
I've recently started seeing a new therapist.  As you may have seen from my last post, I've also been thinking about visiting smash rooms to let out emotions (still haven't managed to try one out yet!).   For me, therapy has always been a space where I am able to get vulnerable and real with someone who really doesn't know me.  And even though it happens every time I return to therapy for support, I'm always surprised to hear the shock that many mental health professionals have at my steadfast and lofty standards, for myself exclusively.  These standards, of course, began for me at a very young age. In psychology, the concept of nature vs. nurture is often discussed.  This is the idea that both nature and nurture play a role in how someone turns out. Experiments have shown that even identical twins can develop significant differences when they grow up in different environments.  Most research, however, eventually posits that both nature and nurtu...
Read more