I am not particularly scientific, in fact I had to admit intellectual left-brain defeat and give up the subject after Standard 8. Nevertheless, I have an innate understanding of general scientific principles as they pertain to philosophy. One of those that I first intimately engaged as I was getting divorced was the principle of inertia.
Besides embodying lethargy and inaction in the linguistic sense, this principle explains why we sometimes know what we need to do, but for several often “justifiable” reasons do not do so. In those instances certain patterns have become so entrenched in our thoughts, behaviours and habits as to prevent us from making adjustments, amendments or changes that will be beneficial to us.
I learnt the hard way how one can lose several quality years of potential progress while holding on to the illusion that you can keep doing the same thing, yet somehow produce different results. I was deeply unhappy with my daily life, career path and circumstances for five years, but momentum of the process I had begun kept me in a state of inertia that would not allow me to make the necessary changes.
I clung to the dream that saw me embark on that journey in the first place and even as I saw it become a nightmare I could not let go. My initial ignorance about what had “gone wrong” kept me in the cycle; it was soon followed by insecurity that developed from not knowing what a change of circumstances would hold for me; and then the final frontier was my pride – “I will not admit defeat, even if it kills me!”
Sadly, kill me it nearly did… I became clinically depressed and to cut the long story short, my inertia had to be replaced with a large dose of self-preservation. I made a drastic change of circumstance which included a change or marital status; a change of career and vocation; a change of friends and associates; and even a resultant change of demeanour! It was not easy as it felt as though the rug had been pulled out from under me. However, I found an ironic place of peace in all the uncertainty that ensued. I realised that I had done so much so differently that it was inevitable that I would reap an avalanche of different results.
All I can say since then is “Wow” ! I have now become a certified “change junkie”. I think I can only now thrive in a place of constant change, advancement and progress. I have become an enemy to inertia as it had robbed me of so much quality of life. Then, as you would expect with Murphy’s Law – 6 months into my new life, I received an irresistible, flattering, overwhelming offer to re-incorporate certain aspects of my former life into my current state. Once the afterglow of the proposition had faded, I was faced with a concrete decision: “Do I go back with the belief that things have somehow changed?”
The layman scientist in me quickly kicked in and reminded me of the quagmire of inertia that my former environment had trapped me in. It emphasised to me that I had changed significantly since then, but on close inspection, my former environment had remained the same. Therefore, with environmental and associative factors statistically being more powerful than the individual, I immediately knew what my decision should be:
Forward Ever…Backward Never!