Birds, Words, & Inspiration

(Re)Beginner's Physics

I wandered away from my goals a couple of weeks ago and I've been struggling ever since. I'm not working on the edits of my novel. I'm not writing the new one I started. And I don't want to write this BW&I letter.

I've yet to figure out how to stop this from happening, but it happens. And I know it doesn't just happen to me. Sometimes, it's something huge that brings you to a screeching halt. It might be love or loss or tragedy. Most of the times though, it is something as small as a few accidental faith-shaking words from someone you trust when your guard is down. It might even be the success of a friend, a discomforting revelation, or something you just can't put your finger on.

The problem is not the sudden halt, however. The problem is that we halt and catch fire. It's that we can't figure out how to reboot the system. It is so much easier to stay stationary than to get back in motion.

Physics says that an object in motion stays in motion until it encounters an outside force, and an object at rest remains at rest until moved by an outside force. We want to stay still. We don't want to start again. It is so damn hard to start again.

Once we get out of a positive routine we resist returning to motion. It feels so incredibly good to be accomplishing things - to be exercising, creating art, and doing small projects. And I don't know why that memory of positive reinforcement isn't enough to get us going again. In my experience though, it isn't. In my experience, the first positive step is hard. And it is also probably not enough to turn into momentum. It's a nudge, but not motion. It's only the persistence to begin again (and again) that gets you going.

Newton's First Law:

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Basically, you have to look at it in terms of the force.
So, yes. I am, in fact, telling you... that I believe if you want to change the state you're in, then you have to use the force, and you also have to manage the dark side of the force.

Find the force. Use it.

Life is a series of false starts and stumbling, but living is what we do in between. And finding the force is way we figure out how to live.

The force is the tiny things we do to begin again. Physics breaks down to quantum physics and movement happens at the atomic level. It is ONE SMALL MOVEMENT at a time that gets us going. You just have to keep picking up a pen. You just have to keep finishing tiny projects. You just have to get up in the morning and do one little thing until you're moving. Rinse, repeat, start the motion. That's the physics of starting over again.

I believe that art is magic and that magic is at its core, is pure science. So you cannot cast a spell unless you start with learned science and experiment from there. There is no way to game physics. You have to follow the rules.

So, I'm writing this letter tonight, even though I don't want to, even though I'm feeling unsteady and even though it's short and I'm not sure I made my point. And tomorrow, I'm going to get up and try again. I may do nothing, but I also may do something and if I don't, I'll try again. But I'm certain that if I keep trying, that something is going to matter.

Believe in physics. Use the force.

xxR