The Curse of Inertia

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

09 Aug 2007 05:29 PM

What's inertia, you say? An object a rest tends to stay at rest. An object in motion tends to stay in motion. That, more or less, is inertia.

I have a hard time with inertia some days. Inertia makes me not want to leave the house. Inertia makes me turn down invitations from friends. Those days, I am an object at rest and I want to stay at rest.

Today I fought off inertia to go have lunch with some friends at a pretty park in Portland. I really wanted to stay home. The morning was off to a bad start -- the dogs had wrapped me around a tree and I'd scraped my arm, I'd knocked over and broken a favorite vase, and I'd heard some bad news from a friend. All I wanted to do was go back to bed and let today pass me by.

Instead, I got myself up and dressed. I made a plate of chips and hummus to contribute to the lunch feast, and I got in the car.

And you know what? That bad mood that had me wanting to sit home and hide melted away. I got to talk and laugh with friends. I indulged in some choco-therapy. But more importantly, I didn't let inertia keep me down.

It's easy, sometimes, to hear about someone else's problems and give helpful advice. It isn't so easy to take your own advice. A friend is depressed? Try getting out and taking a walk, I'll say. Easy advice to give... not so easy to follow when I've got inertia against me. I forget sometimes that fighting off inertia and going out really does make me feel better! So does laughing -- it's a good stress buster. So does a hug -- remember that thing about bonding hormones?

The next time inertia glues my butt to my chair... I hope I remember this lesson. Or I hope one of you reminds me about it!

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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