Hey guys! How are you? I hope you’re doing good, and if your not that’s okay too. I myself am still hanging in there. I’ve had ups and downs, but today isn’t to bad. Anyway, I hope you enjoy today’s post. Let me know what you think. Here it goes….
I’ve been riding horses for just about 8 or so years now, and I’ve learned a lot in that span of time. I’m currently taking a break from the wonderful world of horses right now because I’ve reached a point in my life where I just can’t afford it anymore and hopefully when I make my grand return to horse riding it will be with my own horse. Not being around horses is really starting to get to me, and it sort of feels like I’ve lost purpose. It feels a lot like I’ve fallen of my horse, only the horse is my life.
In my years of riding I’ve fallen of about 4 times, and if there is one thing I’ve learned it’s that the fall is worse than the impact. Out of all the times I’ve fallen I’ve probably only been actually hurt twice. That’s why falling is the worst. You don’t know if your gonna just walk it off, or if you won’t be able to walk. When you’re falling, all you know is that either you screwed up or your horse did, and now you’re plummeting towards the earth and you don’t know what’s going to happen when you hit the ground. Then there’s the Impact. You hit the ground and 9 times out of 10, you walk of it off and get back on. After the impact its all over, and even if your unconscious or if you broke something there is literaly no where to go but up. It’s fantastic!!!!!!
See, when your falling, you brain is overrun by fear. First off; falling is scary, and in the horse world you know the worst case scenarios and you do not want to be one of those horror stories teachers tell to instill proper safety measures for their students. The entire way down you’re straight up terrified, and you can’t even comprehend the fact that the impact is most likely not going to be as bad as you thought.
I’ve found life to be similar. When your life goes from hero to zero in one day you can feel so overcome with fear and anxiety. For a while I wondered if I was doomed to forever be in a downward spiral. All I knew was that everything was horrible, and I hated it. Once I reached the impact it wasn’t as bad. I needed to lay on the metaphorical ground for a bit before I was ready to get back up, but it wasn’t as bad as I though it would be.
If you’re feeling anxious and depressed about life you too have probably lost your stirrup and fallen off, and it’s probably horrible. The key is to constantly remind yourself that it won’t last forever. You cannot fall forever, and even if your horses is really really really tall, I promise you will reach the ground eventually. Maybe you can’t walk it off right away; maybe you need to lay there for a bit before slowly limping back to your horse. You might not even be able to get back on right away, but that’s okay I promise!!!!!!!
I had a terrible time convincing myself it was okay, so I prayed and even though I didn’t feel heard, or feel better right away I kept talking to God. Also my cat…. but mostly God, and wouldn’t you know it he gave me the right words at the right time to get me through it. Yes I could have used them ten days earlier, but I all worked out eventually. Plus, I learned a valuable lesson; he will catch us when we fall and help us get back up. Even if we’re not ready to get back on right away he will hold our hand until we are ready.
Maybe you’ve fallen before in life, or maybe your falling right now. You are not alone!! Even when you feel like your alone in life and everything is hopeless, your not, and it’s not. You have someone who loves you very much. Someone who hurts with you, who cries with you, and who will hold you together as you fall apart. Someone who will walk with you through everything, so that when you finally hit the ground you’ll be ready to brush off the dirt and hop back on your horse.
In the horse world we have a saying that goes… “It’s not IF you fall off, it WHEN you fall off”. Just like with horseback riding, in life your guaranteed to fall off, but it’s those falls that make you better and stronger and eventually your falls will be less and less frequent. Next time you fall embrace it, and even though it’s scary it will make you stronger and above all remember you can’t fall forever, and the impact is hardly ever as bad as we are expecting.
