Can I Get Off this Roller Coaster, Please?

Two Thousand and Eleven has been a bit of an up and down year so far.

Professionally, I've made great accomplishments, but now find myself in the stagnant position of hoping a teaching job comes along. Up and now down.

Personally,it's been a roller coaster, and not one of those fun, laughter-filled, exciting rides at the amusement park. No, this has been a rather up and down hell that you only can hope will at some point come to an end. With super high highs and really low lows. Up and down, up and down, etc...

So why didn't I just get off the ride, so to speak? It's a question I've been asked and have even asked myself. I never had an answer...until yesterday...HOPE.

I've been clinging to this hope that no matter what was happening or what my brain was thinking, that roller coaster would end - that I would find the calm and solid ground of a non-roller coaster existence (it doesn't really exist).

Maybe I'm just weak-willed for placing my faith in hope and not charging ahead and doing something more proactive or active or even reactive. But then, sometimes some things aren't in our control, even as much as we would like them to be. And no matter how hard you try, complete control over everything or anything just isn't to be had.

Life will always be filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, crests and troughs, peaks and valleys (so many ways to say it, oh my!) different and alike. That's just how life is, and honestly, it'd be pretty boring if it was always just happy times and smooth sailing. We need those lows to maintain balance and to learn and grow from those experiences that shape our lives.

So no matter how low things may get, I always have hope that it will all work out in the end. And it usually does. One way or another. :)