On inertia

Have you ever come across someone, either in person, or online who you get the distinct feeling could you be you in the future? It happened to me today, when I checked out a lead on a knitting blog from my Creative Mom podcast. Ann (the host) recommended january one as an excellent blog from a very productive knitter with fantabulous photographs. I, of course, had to check it out immediately.

Not only does this woman share my birthday, but she shares my passion for photography, knitting, philosophy, politics, her husband, her friends, her life. It is just so strange to read a list of things she has put together to describe herself to find myself nodding my head, thinking that, yes, this is me, this could be me, this might be me, in another life, in 10 years, in an alternate universe.

Having found her, I'm wondering what I need to do about it now. I have been feeling inertial lately. Like nothing that I'm doing or intending on doing is going anywhere, but rather, I'm continuing to move forward (or backward, up or down) at the same inertial rate as nothing that I can do can exert any outside force on me. Inertia feels like going nowhere, but I know that, if nothing else, time is moving forward, inevitably advancing, each day closing, glaring at me, daring me to show what I've done today to change.

Not a whole, damn, lot. Nada, zero, zip, zilch. I'm stuck, I'm not doing anything, I'm trapped by bills, my job, my pregnancy, all of it. Stuck in inertia... always reacting, not acting. Stuck. I feel like a fly who's been caught on flypaper and who has given up trying to get free. My energy, my will, my desire is fading quickly. Running across this blog for a woman who is very similar to me, but who seems to be living out her dreams is like a jolt of adrenaline, shocking me into action. If she can do it, so can I. I just need to get off my ass and get back in the game. Stop moping around and do something about it. Start setting tiny goals to measure my progress. Take time to appreciate my progress and to reassess the future. To stop and notice the beauty around me, to treasure my friends, to enjoy the now, the mundane, the ordinary.

If she can do it, so can I.