Have you ever been on a roller coaster? I remember the first time I looked at the huge, gleaming yellow Montezuma’s Revenge at Knotts Berry Farm in California. I was 12 years old and was being coerced into riding by my big sister, who promised  “you’ll never have to do it again if you don’t love it.” Fair enough.

As I watched the coaster zoom by, I noticed that some of the people raised their hands up high above their heads just as they were about to drop to the bottom of the highest hill. “Why are they doing that?” I wondered. My sister replied “it makes the ride more fun when you just let go and let it happen.”  “Aren’t they scared, though?” I was concerned with letting go of that thin little bar I thought was holding me in the seat. “Sure they are. But when you think about it, they’re already on the roller coaster.  They’re raising their hands because they’re going to find the fun in it, even if they’re a little bit scared.”

Of course, one ride later and I was a coaster lover, as my sister suspected I would be. But it was years before I could relax enough to throw my hands up, to trust that the coaster was going to find its destination without the benefit of me holding on as tightly as I could.

Life is kind of like a coaster at times.  Sure, there are things you can do to change how high the hills are with the choices you make and the people that influence you. You can set good boundaries and make sure that the G- force isn’t too much to handle. But you’re already strapped in, and all the hanging on and worrying about it isn’t going to change anything.

Gripping the handlebar of life too tightly gives you headaches. You’re constantly worrying about whether you can handle the next curve or what that drop is going to do to you. But throwing up your hands when life gets particularly crazy isn’t an act of surrender…it’s an act of faith. If you let go and trust that eventually problems will work themselves out, and in the meantime make a good plan with the help of wise people, you don’t have time to do anything but live in the moment.

Let go and enjoy the ride.