Roller-coasters are supposed to be fun, right?

So here you are, standing in front of what appears to be the coolest roller-coaster ever, aptly named: YOUR LIFE! You're anxious, but so excited to experience such a thrilling ride. Sure, part of the coaster is covered and you have no idea what's going on in there, but you just KNOW it's gonna be awesome. You find yourself running to get on the ride because you just don't want to wait another minute. And just like that, you're buckled in and so begins your ride.

As you pull away from the gate, you notice signs along the way to indicate life events: Birth, Childhood, High School, etc. Sure it starts a little slow and a little boring, few bumps, but nothing like a 10 story drop or 4 loop-de-loos you were envisioning. But then it starts picking up speed and excitement starts building exponentially. All of a sudden the covered part of the ride is just ahead! As you enter it, you notice a sign that says "Army, War, and All of Their Fun Side Effects" and now, while still excited, you're a little concerned as to what it means by "All of Their Fun Side Effects". Other people rode the Army ride, with and without the War part, and they didn't mention anything about Side Effects. They said it was awesome and great, sometimes terrifying, but always worth it. So you enter the darkness, super excited, with a little concern.

Immediately, you see a sign that says "Deployment" and your cart starts to climb and climb and climb up what can only be described as the tallest mountain ever, you start to get a tad nervous. "How far up are we going? What's on the other side? How much longer is this going to take? Am I gonna see my lunch? Why does the cart keep randomly jerking around?". Then you reach the top. And for a brief moment you see a sign that says "Homecoming" and you realize that there's a hole in the roof and you can see the sun, mountains, rivers, and everything feels at peace. WOOSH! Down you go. No longer worried about seeing your lunch, you're more worried that there's someone behind you who felt your lunch, you start to panic. THE RIDE IS OUT OF CONTROL! You're plummeting and there aren't any signs to explain why you're plummeting, just plummeting out of control. Suddenly, you start to slow down, a sign appears that "Diagnosing TBI, PTSD" and you're not sure what they mean, but you're just grateful the plummeting has stopped. Abruptly, you're going through several loop-de-loos and you're freaked because you just noticed your seat just has a bar to hold you in place, not a harness and you have no idea how to stay in the ride while hanging upside during the loops. Desperately, you grab at whatever you can, trying to get more stability.

And just as you've got a firm grasp on your bar, the loops stop. Your cart slowly coasts outside. You take a breath. You admit, while you enjoyed the covered part of the ride, it's not some place you'd like to revisit. You notice the ride kind of smooths out in front of you, as you see a sign that says "Corporate World". You start to relax, but worry that you're not going to have the adrenaline rush that the covered part of the ride gave you. Then, all of a sudden, you're going up and down and up and down and up and down and you're not really sure what's going on. You didn't remember seeing hills in front of you, but there are you are, almost getting whiplash from the bumps. Utterly confused, you look around for a sign of explanation and you see a field of signs to your right. "Work Stress?" "Not listening?" "TBI?" "Not caring?" "Overwhelmed?" and as you're trying to figure out which applies, the ride smooths out again.

You take a breath, relax and start enjoying the view. You're still trying to figure out what all those bumps were about, but also grateful that they're over and excited about what lies ahead. So you peer out as far as you can see and what you see is typical life roller-coaster stuff: ups, downs, curves, etc. And you're excitement starts to build again.

But then, out of no where, the whiplash bumps are back. And again, you're just as confused, upset, angry, and exhausted as the last time. And then they stop. And again, normal life roller-coaster. But now you're just waiting for the whiplash bumps to return. So you wait and wait, and just when you relax, BAM! they're back again.

You start to think you're just done with this ride and look for ways off. But then you look around in your cart and realize that you're not alone. You start noticing other full carts in front of you and behind you that are going through the same whiplash bumps. Somehow, knowing that other carts are suffering through the same whiplash bumps, makes your whiplash bumps more tolerable. Besides, you start thinking, eventually the whiplash bumps will become just hills; the roller-coaster will turn into just an average, run of the mill, typical life roller-coaster and it'll be fun, exciting, and only terrifying every once in a while.

Right?