A<\/span>t the age of 23, I was living the American Dream. I had the house, the wife, the 2.5 kids, the vacations, and the 401K. By society\u2019s standards, I was pretty successful. At the age of 29, my American Dream had turned into the American nightmare, as I experienced divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure, depression, and being homeless for two years.<\/p>\n Fortunately, I began this amazing 25-year personal transformation journey, allowing me to rebuild my life. And now, I am committed to sharing the lessons I learned on this journey with others through my books, online courses, and lectures.<\/p>\n During my transformational journey, I began asking myself some of life\u2019s deeper existential questions, like, who am I, and why am I here? As I contemplated these questions, I discovered that my life had gone from the American Dream to the American Nightmare in such a short period because I was doing everything society said I was supposed to do to be happy. I had fallen victim to materialism and consumerism, believing that buying and having \u201cstuff\u201d would make me happy.<\/p>\n Even though I had accumulated all of the \u201cstuff,\u201d I was still absolutely miserable.<\/p>\n When my dream turned into a nightmare, and I lost all of my \u201cstuff,\u201d suddenly, I didn\u2019t have an identity. As a result, I spiraled into a deep state of depression and eventually got to such a dark place that I contemplated suicide.<\/p>\n Fortunately, I gained the courage to go to therapy, and my transformational journey began.<\/p>\n During a session with my therapist, she recommended that I go home and try and write out how I was feeling due to my divorce. At the time, I struggled with sharing my feelings, but I took on the assignment and tried to express how I felt due to my divorce.<\/p>\n I want to share something I wrote in my journal that gave me many insights into why I had been so unhappy.<\/p>\n It\u2019s called:<\/p>\n I had heard a lot about the rollercoaster. Initially, I didn\u2019t want to go and see it, but everyone kept saying, you have to check it out and get on it. It will be so much fun.<\/p>\n Reluctantly, I went to see it. It was intriguing and enticing, and it looked like fun.<\/p>\n You have to get on it, everyone said.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure that I want to.<\/p>\n But everyone loves getting on the Rollercoaster, they said.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll like it.<\/p>\n Go ahead and try it; you\u2019ll like it, everyone said.<\/p>\n So, I tried it.<\/p>\n In the beginning, it was fun. Going round and round and up and down with friends who also seemed to be having fun was initially enjoyable.<\/p>\n But after a short while, I got bored and tired. I didn\u2019t want to ride it anymore. I decided that I wanted to get off.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t get off, everyone said.<\/p>\n But I\u2019m ready to.<\/p>\n No one gets off the rollercoaster once they get on.<\/p>\n Why not?<\/p>\n They just don\u2019t.<\/p>\n But I\u2019m ready to get off.<\/p>\n Why not ride it a little longer and see if you\u2019ll change your mind? They said.<\/p>\n Okay, I\u2019ll try it a little longer. Round and round, up and down, I went pretending that I was enjoying myself.<\/p>\n But after a while, I began to get angry. I was tired of the roller-coaster and realized that I shouldn\u2019t have gotten on it in the first place. I wanted to get off, but I didn\u2019t know how.<\/p>\n I\u2019m really sick of this rollercoaster. I want to get off right now.<\/p>\n We\u2019re sorry, but you must stay on the rollercoaster. That\u2019s the rule.<\/p>\n Well, I guess I\u2019m going to have to break the rule because I\u2019m about to get off.<\/p>\n But if you break the rule, no one will like you, and they said you will probably get hurt.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t care about anyone else. I want to get off now. Who can I talk to about getting off this thing?<\/p>\n No one knows how to get off, they said.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure someone knows; I just have to find them.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been said that only a few people have ever gotten off this roller-coaster. And no one really knows what happened to them. Some believe that people have even been killed trying to get off. Why take that risk?<\/p>\n At this point, I\u2019m willing to take that risk. I don\u2019t care what people think or what people are going to say. I refuse to keep going round and round and getting nowhere on this thing, and I must do something to get off.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t know what to do, but I knew I couldn\u2019t stay on the rollercoaster. I needed a plan, and I needed it soon. I felt like I was dying and wanted to live again.<\/p>\n But what about the risk? What if what they say is true? What if I really can\u2019t get off or get killed trying to get off?<\/p>\n Now I decide that I have only one choice. And that choice is to live. I don\u2019t know what will happen, but I know I\u2019m already dead if I stay on this thing. I have to trust my inner instincts, take the chance, and simply jump off. I\u2019m not sure where I\u2019ll land or if I\u2019ll get hurt or even die, but I just know that I have to jump.<\/p>\n So, despite everyone else’s words and the fear and uncertainty I felt, I took a deep breath and jumped. As my body was hurled through the air uncontrollably, surprisingly, I felt a deep sense of calm and inner peace, and then I did exactly what I intuitively knew I could do – I flew!\n~~~\nAs I reflect on my 25-year journey of transformation, I realize that going to therapy was my way of jumping off the rollercoaster. It was terrifying at first, but intuitively I knew I needed to get help.<\/p>\n Here are five lessons I learned during my journey that have allowed me to create my version of an extraordinary life at the ripe young age of 61.<\/p>\n It is imperative that you take good care of your physical body. This means getting annual exams, abstaining from illegal drugs, minimizing alcohol, and exercising regularly. I am also a huge proponent of meditation, so I suggest you give it a try.<\/p>\n As a happily married man for the past twenty years, I can attest to the fact that it is possible to create rewarding and fulfilling relationships that last. The first step to creating great relationships is to create a great relationship with yourself which is the reason making peace with your past is so important.<\/p>\n You can be spiritual without religion. Find the path that is right for you.<\/p>\n Being in service simply means you are willing to do something to help make the world a better place. Find a way to serve.<\/p>\n If you do these five things, I can assure you that the rest of your life can be the best of your life.<\/p>\n Good luck!<\/p>\n Michael<\/p>\n Life coach offers ideas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,161],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2022","category-fall-2022-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12868"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13184,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12868\/revisions\/13184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Rollercoaster<\/h3>\n
\n
Coach Michael Taylor<\/a> is the author of 11 books, including I’m Not Okay with Gray, How to create an Extraordinary Life After 50<\/a>.<\/em> He is an entrepreneur, a certified life coach, and motivational speaker who has committed his life to empower men and women to create extraordinary lives.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"