INERTIA

inertia

ɪˈnəːʃə/

noun

1. 1.

   a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.

   "the bureaucratic inertia of the various tiers of government"

   synonyms:

   inactivity, inaction, inactiveness, inertness, passivity, apathy, accidie,malaise, stagnation, dullness, enervation, sluggishness, lethargy,languor, languidness, listlessness, torpor,  torpidity, idleness,indolence, laziness, sloth, slothfulness; More
2. 2.

   PHYSICS

   a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force.

   "the power required to overcome friction and the inertia of the moving parts"

Inertia is what makes us stick to our comfort zone, wasting the opportunities to taste the magic of all that is kept unknown to us. 

A tendency to do nothing, to stay where you are. 
A tendency to use circumstance and tradition as the reasons not to develop and progress.
A tendency to waste your life waiting for the opportunities that will come knocking your door, while the opportunities are there waving to you from the window everyday, calling to you to follow but you're too sleepy to move.

A tendency to enlarge all ties we have in life and make it chains that stop us from walking half a meter forward.


This is what jwoman has to say for today.

The Meeting

It was a sunny morning in early January. The sea breeze was so refreshing. The clear sky, the infinite horizon, the happy couples sitting on the rocks not far away, all that made her skin tingle and gave her butterflies in her stomach. She felt excited.

How she missed all this, she thought happily, as she walked with a fast pace on the pavement. She was happy to be home for a long holiday. She was even happier today. She was going to meet him finally. It was a few month since they last met and for just 2 hours. She remember the long talk they had, they always enjoyed talking.

Suddenly, she stopped. She  stood there stunned by the thought that just passed her mind. How did it come up? From where did it come? However, she felt relieved by the thought. A feeling of accomplishment swept through her. "Yes, that's it." was all she heard herself say out loud to herself.

"Hello," he said. "I missed you tons." Absently, she answered, "me too". She was lost in his smile. How she missed him and his quiet, peaceful smile. They meet from time to time 2 or 3 times every 3 or 4 months. They talked occasionally. It's been this way for years now. And she knew it will stay this way for years to come. His company was a relief to her, a door to freedom, to light. The thought was still whirling in her head as she looked at him.

"You're so cute today," She heard him say. It made her smile shine. "You're cute as ever." And they broke into a childish, high pitched laughter together.

The day passed swiftly. They drank coffee, had a long walk in the old streets of their beloved city. They even had a light lunch in a small restaurant by the sea. And now, it was time to part. All day that thought was at the back of her head, peeping from time to time. She thought numerous times to share the thought with him as she shared so much but she never did.

Parting was always the worst part of their meeting day. They kissed and shaked hands. "Will we meet again while you're in town?"
"I am not sure. I have some work to finish. I also have business meetings in the morning", he said with a sad look in his eyes.
"I understand", she tried to smile but it was so fake.
"Will we ever have something more?" she said slowly, looking into his eyes.
"We are more ", he said smilingly.
She smiled back. She knew his answer before he uttered it. They had their times. They had their chance and to be fair they had what many couples never experience in long lasting relationships.

She know that they can't have something else nor can they stop it. They will always wish for more and never have the courage to have anything more. Her stomach fluttered as he waved his goodbye and walked away.

WHTFAUD

"What The Fuck Are yoU Doing?"

Have you ever stopped short while doing something and shouted this to yourself? Maybe as you absent-mindedly washed the dishes or walked on your way home. You never really mean what you were instantaneously doing. But there was this sudden idea that has popped into your mind. No it wasn't in fact sudden. It has been there for days, months, or maybe years. And this was the moment you let it go. It was your awakening cry. You remembered what you once  dreamt to be. You visualized yourself somewhere else, or with someone else or doing something else.

We so many times wish to shout at ourselved this WHTFAUD? To wake ourselves to what we've been immersed in for maybe months or even years. Life is too short to spend it on things you really don't mean or care for. We burden ourselves with responsibility that don't exist, with the responsibility of everyday, of living everyday and doing what we have always done. Why is change so scary? Why is the unknown always worse can't we ever see it as better. 

"Inertia, the tendency of a body to keep its state.", a definition from science class. We took it in 5th or 6th grade, I am not sure. However, it always comes to my mind when I think of my life. In our country, we have an old arabic saying, "What I know is better that what I don't know". It all sums up to chaining us to our places, our environments and where we started.

But all this is not a reason to stay where you are. "Wake up, it's your life. WTFAUD wasting it like this?!"

I know that there is nothing certain, and there is no assurance that change will be the best but this applies to the present state too. There is no assurance that it is the best. And for sure, what I know is never guaranteed to be better than what I don't know. 

If you have a dream, why stop short? Why sit at home cursing circumstances for not helping you? Go out and pursue your dream. Reaching is not the real award but travelling, walking towards your destiny is what you really gain. The knowledge and experience you gain, will make you someone better even if the end did't turn out as glamorous as it once used to seem. You know why? Because by then you' ll have it in your hands.

We have to walk our way, embrace change as a normal outcome of living a healthy life and developing as we grow. Enjoy the travel, the walk however difficult. Thus, lets all start with shouting at ourselves today 'WTFAUD'

This is what jwoman has to say for today.

From with-IN not with-OUT

The alarm goes beeeeeeep, beeeeeeeep, beeeeeeep.
It reaches you from far away, but seems with each part of a second, to be driving in a fast speedy car towards your ears.

It's clearly now inside your head, yelling wake up. You're awake but your eyes won't open. You try hard to open your lids, but it seems sealed. What an impossible mission?!

"No need to wake up, Go back to sleeep"
"Shut this f***n alam and go back to sleeeep"

Whirls in your head, a sand storm covering everything up and you just can't decide what to do. Those birds singing outside the window, are getting on your nerves. What the hell are they singing for? A NEW DAY!!! So happy that a new day has begun. Why don't you feel the same? To you, it was only a few moments ago, that you were dragging your legs to bed, happy that you have finally reached the end of the day. To you, it was only a few seconds not hours ago.

Why can't you wake up and face life? What is missing in your life? You need a reason to wake up, a motive, a dynamo to start up your internal engine.

Living away from my normal environment and my family made me understand this. The problem is we are looking for that dynamo in the outside world, whereas it is with-IN not with-OUT.

We wait for someone to hold our hand and push us out of bed. We wait for someone to say the nice things that motivate us and give us a reason to go on.

The motive really lies inside us. Putting a short term goal can be a solution. Just planning for the next day can help us wake up in the morning. The feeling that we matter to this world that we make a difference even if it is only for one person which is just us, could mean a lot. We need a smile to make us make a step. Visualizing us smiling, seeing ourselves calm and happy can be a motive.

Did you ever think that those birds getting on your nerves in the morning aren't really happy, they aren't singing happily for the new day as they made us believe when we were children. They sing because they were born to do so nothing more. They aren't really happy but just doing their job, their mission. Simply, it is part of their existence, their reason to survive.


So every night, go to bed with a smile and make a simple plan for the next day, a plan to help you wake up the next morning.

This is what jwoman has to say for today.

Face your Demons

Days pass by and we hide behind our daily routines. We pretend nothing worries us, we pretend that this is life as usual. And this nagging feeling deep inside is just normal.

Each one of us has a hidden demon in his life. A demon that we keep hidding in our closet and do all our best to drown its scary screams with our daily life's noise. And the nagging feeling is our hidden awareness of its presence.

One day, suddenly, we are asked to open the closet to get 'something' out of it. We deny the need to get this 'something'. We come up with excuses so as not to open the closet like we've lost the keys or it is a mess and we won't be able to find anything. We fight our ownselves to find a convincing excuse to not open the closet. The nagging feeling becomes more and more obvious and obnoxious. We are confused, worried. The stress level increases.

We convince ourselves that this stress is from the fact that noone understands us, that noone understands that it is not important to get this 'something' from the closet. We go on denying that we are scared to death from facing what's inside the closet.

The moment of confrontation comes, after sleepless days and hours of exhaustive thinking about a way out of the situation. With hazzy steps we move towards the closet. The screams become clearer. We try to remember when we first met the demon, how we trapped it and closed the closet. But we remember nothing. We try to imagine what will happen when we face it. The best and worst scenarios goes through our minds. We visualize ourselves as victorious knights coming out of a battle with his flag in hand and a big smile, feeling ecstasy to encourage ourselves or as a victim of war dying in the ruins.

We collect our courage and open the closet. The darkness slowly withdraws, the screams are silenced. We look ahead of us and there is nothing. The closet is empty. The demon was in our mind not really in the closet. We were misleading ourselves.

At the moment, we face our demon, it vanishes forever. If we never collect ourselves to open the closet, we will forever live with this nagging feeling and illusional noises. We will forever live with stress, and only try to adapt to it instead of ending it. We need to face our fears, take actions to change, say the words that has been long unsaid and learn the lessons from the past, our past and others past.

So face your demons today or when the 'something' comes don't hesitate to open the closet and get it. But never waste your life in fear and anguish.

This is what jwoman has to say for today.

Me versus Me

When we make a fresh start in life and leave behind our well known life , we sometimes feel scared of all the change , all the unknown. 

I felt this way, when I suddenly found myself in new lands, I never knew. When I took the decision to make a change to my life, I took it quick so as not to retreat back to my comfortable known zone. And after a while, I found myself looking back and wishing I was back there again. It was a moment and then I checked myself and screamed at me, "Have you forgotten everything?Are you an alzeheimer patient? If so, go get treated."

I realized that my mind has been playing tricks on me, making me past-sick. It was making me sick to all that I was used to. To hide my fear from what I still don't know it beautified the past, to look more appealing and covered all the pain and disappointment I had to live through.

It is war time. Me versus Me. It's battle time and I have to win the battle against me, my mind and this machine called my brain. It is deluding me. 

At this time, we need all our strength to keep focused and keep things straight and clear. Just one weakness and we may lose it all. If at any moment, my urge to go back increased to a level greater that the urge to keep my newly gained achievements, I am back at point zero or even lower. This, according to me, means I will never get out of this ever again. I will be back to a life I once left but this time with no will or energy to leave again and I will forever remember that I failed to leave and thus, will never attempt it again.

So, what is needed is a firm grip on yourself. Remind yourself of the past, the real past and what made you leave at the first place. Remind yourself of how great it was when you took the first initial step out of the past.

Keep a smile and go on. Stop looking back.

This is what jwoman has to say today.