The Iron Dragon

Life doesn't get better by chance, it gets better by change.

I still remember the first time I rode The Iron Dragon. I was maybe nine or ten years old, and standing in line with my dad and my older brother Scott, I could feel my heart pounding, watching the roller coaster twist along the track. The closer we got to the front, the more I questioned whether I actually wanted to do this. I was pretty sure the answer was no.

But before I could change my mind, or find an excuse to bail (something I’d later become a practiced professional at), we were on the ride and speeding off, climbing higher, slowing at the peaks, then plunging into a wild, breathless descent around corners and following a steady up and down slope.

I remember the feeling of my survival instinct kicking in, and I braced myself, holding on to the arm supports for dear life, wishing for it to be over. And then, as we circled back to the start, the feeling of relief was palpable. A wave of gratitude surged through me as the entrance and exit areas for the ride came back into view.

But… right as we reached the point where the ride should have slowed down and eased to a stop, the machinery whirled and sped up again - and with a whoosh and the sound of a scream tearing out from my lungs, we were off again - hurtling forward for a second lap.

I think about that moment. Thinking I’d survived, only to feel a force bigger than myself, propel me forward, as I held on, utterly devoid of control. That was the real hill of emotion, the going up excitement of thinking I was safe, only to plunge back down into that exhilarating fear one more time.

That feeling is an emotion I’ve come to recognize as a reappearing character in life. A regularly scheduled dose of chaos that I never seem to be able to plan for or see coming. Like all of the Brooklyn 99 episodes that feature Adrian Pimento.

Sometimes I met that feeling during moments of failure, or at the precipice of a breakup, or that snapshot of overwhelming clarity, when I’ve realized my days in one specific city were coming to an end and life was pulling me in another direction, urging me to move on to somewhere else.

As a proud central Ohioan, I’ll readily brag about Ohio’s amusement park prowess. With Cedar Point and King’s Island, it really is in a class above its own (waaaay better than six flags) and not to mention the Ohio State fair and the county fairs, and there’s plenty of outdoor fun during the summers.

But despite my pride, I am NOT a roller coaster person. You can ask Scott (who loves roller coasters and like our grandma on my Dad’s side, will ride anything anytime) and he could recount any handful of trips where I stayed happily with my feet on the ground. In fact, during one of our teenage summers, where we made multiple trips to amusement parks, I found a productive outlet for my avoidance, amassing a stockpile of Buckeye-themed basketballs, earned in the games section of the park while the others were off on rides. I was very secure in saying no, knowing that safe on the ground, I was in control.

The past two weeks of March have been a roller coaster of their own. The first week was a deep plunge, followed by a really high high, that spilled into the second week, before another plunge, and now it feels like we’ve evened out again.

As I’ve reflected on change, especially change that can’t always be controlled, I’ve found I have a much healthier relationship with those feelings than I did as a kid.

Sometimes the change we need is rest.

Sometimes in change, we need to take things slower, not faster.

Sometimes when there’s change, we have to simplify, cut back, settle down and focus our priorities.

Many times change leads to better opportunities. It’s an opportunity - an invitation to recreate life in a new way, to sculpt using a different mold, paint with a more colorful palate, and write with a different colored pen.

Change is how we separate from the things that weigh us down and burden our soul.

It can free us up to more fully devote talents, gifts, energies and emotions to things that truly allow us to feel joy and live wholeheartedly.

Now, I generally like change. Maybe not all of it always, but knowing the constancy of change in life provides a different kind of stability than the motionless stability of staying stuck in the same spot.

In 2021, I first read Viktor Frankel’s book Man’s Search for Meaning. It expresses the powerful idea that life is always asking us a question, and as we find the purpose in what we experience we find the answers.

We waste life, when we try to avoid pain, heartache, sadness or guilt. The key, is to say yes to life in spite of all circumstances. Accept the good and the bad. And move forward one step at a time.

So while the Iron Dragon may not have been my favorite childhood experience, it was a helpful tutor on the life living skillset of riding a roller coaster.

A beginning introduction to learning how to say yes to life then, saying yes to life now, in all its circumstances, peaks and valleys, moments quick and slow.

I hope you find ways and opportunities to say yes this week in your life!

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” — Viktor E. Frankl.