Written by poet Justin Farley. My poems center on appreciating nature’s beauty, searching for God, and my personal experiences navigating the raw landscape of mental illness.
Through my personal struggles with bipolar disorder, I’ve found the experience of having your moods often feeling like they’re out of your control disorienting and exhausting like a ride you can’t get off of. This poem is my attempt to put those strange feeling into words that no one but those with mood disorders can understand.
Roller Coaster by Justin Farley
Writing is my way of finding meaning in a world that often feels too busy, too loud, too fragmented into scrolls. Hence Soul Notes—deep, meaningful reflections I send out a few times a month on nature, mental health, and spirituality. I’d love for you to join my Soul Notes here.
Roller Coaster
No waiting lines.
No ticket fees.
I was born strapped in your seat.
You took me up.
You took me down.
No choice in where I was bound.
But you soared me too high.
You crashed me too low.
I fried in Hell's fiery furnace, writhed in winter's snow.
A thrilling ride
for a moment's time,
but now no way to stop this racing mind.
For a moment's time
A slow, quiet rest,
but now bleak, cold, and dead inside my chest.
No way to curb the madness.
No way to calm the fear.
No way to halt this ride and get out of here.
Corkscrews and loops.
Falls and climbs.
I spend my life riding the moods of my mind.
- This Rhyming Mental Health Poem Written by Justin Farley
This poem can be found in my bipolar and nature poetry collection, “Summer Days Sunburnt Nights”.
Behind This Bipolar Poem About Living With Mental Illness
Anyone who has dealt with bipolar disorder knows what it’s like to feel like your life is a constant roller coaster. You click up the tracks and reach the summit, feeling on top of the world. But soon come crashing down, picking up speed and racing through tunnels, curves, and loops. It may be exciting to feel out of control for a few minutes on a ride, but when it becomes the way you describe your life, enjoyment isn’t one of the words that comes to mind.
It’s exhausting living with bipolar, not knowing which “you” is going to wake up the next day. Are you going to be racing with energy, crazy in an episode of mania? Or are you going to wake without enough energy to even get out of bed and struggle to make it through the day filled with depression? Mental illness, and specifically bipolar disorder, can make you feel like your whole life is one long roller coaster ride you can’t get off of.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like another poem of mine about mental illness— “The Clouds of Mourning” —which is about depression and pain.
NATURE | SPIRITUALITY | MENTAL HEALTH
Join the journey and receive my Soul Notes—poems and reflections on nature, spirituality, and mental health (usually a few times a month). My emails are intentional and never spammy, just words to carry with you.
ALONG THE BARREN ROAD 
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