A Battle with Inertia

I have one significant personal nemesis; one enemy that creeps up behind me occasionally and pulls a sneak attack.   He’s a villain.  A mean-spirited bully.  I’ll tell you his name.

Inertia.

It seems that the older I get the more havoc he creates in my life.  I get motivated.  I get a plan.  I hit it full bore and start making some headway.  Then, all of the sudden he knocks me in the head and I come to a stop.

It happened earlier this year.  I had a plan…a detailed plan.  I was going to walk everyday…at least one mile…I was going to slowly increase until I was hitting three miles a day through the summer.  I was also doing push-ups, sit-ups, and squats…slowly increasing each.  I was doing really well.  I didn’t miss a day of walking from January all the way to April.  I was so excited, so proud of myself.

Wham!

Inertia hit me over the head.  Rrrrrrrrrrrrt.  Brakes.  Everything came to a stop.

In this case, I finally came to a day where I just couldn’t get the walk in.  I tried to tell myself that it was just one day.  Just one.  One out of 365.  No big deal.  Right?

Wrong.

It took the wind out of my sails and left me discouraged.

Discouragement rides hand in hand with inertia.  They are pals, buddies, amigos.  Discouragement does the dirty work of stopping the action, then inertia takes over to make sure it doesn’t start up again.

As I age, the battle becomes more intense.  It becomes more and more of a struggle; a struggle I cannot afford to lose.  What does that commercial say?

“A body at rest stays at rest.  A body in motion stays in motion.”

I have to keep moving.  I must limit my body’s atrophy.  In fact, I think I can still get fit again.  I can still feel the rush of endorphins and the blood coursing through lean muscle pumped by a strong healthy heart.  I have to be smarter; more careful.  I can’t afford injuries anymore.  They open the door to my nemesis.  But, I can still win the battles…I can still win this war.

I just can’t quit.

My problem right now is that inertia has his claws into my side.  I’m having a hard time getting free…getting going.  I have a bike to ride, but I can’t seem to make myself swing my leg over and pedal away.  I’ve got a road to walk on, but somehow there is always some reason to stay home.

It’s too hot.  I’m too tired.  I don’t have enough time.  I’ve got a meeting in a few minutes.  I need to send an email.  I have to feed the dogs.  I have to…to…to…to.

Inertia.  Inertia.  Inertia.

It’s a character thing.  And this is one character flaw that is a really bugger. 

This morning at church, I shared about how it all starts with a decision.  Mostly, I was talking about spiritual things, but this afternoon I was walking with my wife and complaining about how inertia had its grip on me, and she reminded me of my words. 

“Just like you said this morning,” she said.  “All it takes is a decision.”

Dang!  Now, I can’t blame some impersonal force anymore.  I guess it’s up to me.

Time to move again!