The only people who get hurt on a roller coaster are the ones who jump off.
This quote by Dave Ramsey was exactly what I needed to hear (mostly in the context of blogging, a roller coaster I’m constantly trying to decide if it’s time to jump off or one to ride out. Riding out is winning so far).
Dave (yep, we’re on a first-name basis) was discussing the stock market crash in 2009. It took four years for the market to recover. He was shouting on news stations, his radio show and to anyone who would listen: ride this out.
Don’t sell your stocks. Don’t believe the sky is falling. Hold on. You’re in the middle of the ride. Don’t jump now.
It’s comforting to have sound financial advice like this in the midst of an economic crisis, but the quote carries applications beyond dollars and cents.
Wherever we are in life, we must realize we’re on a roller coaster.
Things won’t always be as good as they are at the top of the hills and they won’t always be as bad as they are at the bottom when the g-forces seem unbearable and your ability to stay aboard is waning.
When your stomach drops out and you’re not sure you can hold it together.
When you’re listening to the death rattle of the approaching hill.
Click. Clank. Click. Clank.
You’re heading up, but you don’t know how high you’ll go or if you’re ready for what’s on the other side of the hill.
Ride it out. Enjoy the highs, stay aboard through the lows. Bring people you care about along in the ride of life so you’re not a single rider contemplating hopping off.
This principle applies in finances, career, motivation, personal development, and especially relationships.
Tim Keller discusses the issue of “selling low” or jumping off in the middle of the ride in the context of relationships in The Meaning of Marriage. Keller says,
When we cease to make a profit—that is, when the relationship appears to require more love and affirmation from us than we are getting back—then we “cut our losses” and drop the relationship.
Relationships, just like life, consist of ups and downs. Nothing continues going up forever. The gravity of life, tough conversations, and burdens we bear cause relationships to dip downward, but that’s no reason to jump off the ride.
We can’t simply cut our losses.The price we pay in ending a marriage is far too high. We lose a part of ourself we can never get back. We destroy a covenant relationship that is designed to last as long as we live.
If your marriage is barely holding on by a thread, that thread is enough to begin rebuilding. Don’t jump.
If you’ve already ended it, that doesn’t have to be the end of the ride for you either, but it’s not going to be easy climbing back up the hill.
If you’re in a marital slump, a career pit or an overall life that seems to be plummeting, don’t jump off the ride.
Get help, get counsel, get wise people around you who will give you good advice, but whatever you do, don’t get off.
Ride the waves, expect the downturns and celebrate the upturns, and stay aboard. Instead of unbuckling and slamming the eject button, hold on for dear life.