Six Flags is permanently in my past

I love roller coasters. I really do. I love the thrill of them, the speed, all of it. But the past few years, whenever I went to Six Flags, I found my enthusiasm waning. Between the crowds and lines, and the fact that the rides themselves are so brief, it's almost not worth it to me. But I continued to go, until the past two years or so, when I discovered another problem: claustrophobia.

For the first year I assumed that the claustrophobia was due to me being extremely heavy and always feeling like I couldn't breathe anyway. I knew I had anxiety problems, but they never extended quite this far before.

But then little things would start to happen. I would be strapped into a ride, and I would start to panic. Or I'd be sitting in the passenger seat while someone else was driving, and would start to feel like I couldn't breathe, and would be tempted to jump out of the car. Heck, even DRIVING occasionally makes me panic, especially on the freeway, and especially because I have my seatbelt on.

But then yesterday it reached a new level. I was sitting in one of those dinky little carnival rides, similar to the Octopus but without leaving the ground, and although there was room between me and the bar restraint, I started to feel panicky. It wasn't the ride itself. It was feeling trapped in something. I started to panic really badly, and tried to call the ride operator over to let me out, but in turning sideways to do so, I realized that I'm now thin enough to actually get out of the ride without the restraint opening. So yay for being semi-thin, but ugh.

I made myself calm down, and Keith did his best to help, and once the ride started I was fine.

But that made me realize that the shoulder restraints at Six Flags will SERIOUSLY freak me out now. Just thinking about them makes me feel uncomfortable.

And then this morning I read about those people who were suspended upside down for half an hour high up in the air on a roller coaster in Alabama.

Six Flags? Yeah, I think I'll pass. This is why God made waterparks.