Sometimes we tend to think that doing the right thing will take too much effort, that we just aren’t up for it. We convince ourselves that it’s hard work being healthy and happy and productive and compassionate and all that other good stuff we want in life. We think of inertia as the tendency of a body at rest to stay at rest. But the truth is that inertia also is the tendency of a body in motion to stay in motion. It’s only difficult to drastically change direction or get out from that place we may be stuck in, but once we’ve managed to muster up that initial burst of energy needed to get us in motion, staying in motion is easy. Once we’ve given our bike that first kick start, inertia keeps the bike heading steadily off towards wherever we want to go. We only need to keep pedaling along with some minimal effort and some attention to the steering so that we keep going in the direction we want to go. Sure, we may hit some hills along the way, but once we’ve pedaled ourselves to the top, we get to fly downhill for a while and thoroughly enjoy our hill climbing efforts.
Occasionally we fall off our bikes or get thrown off by some careless passerby, but if we just give up and stay laying in the ditch, we’re not going to have much fun. So, even though we know that it will take a bit of effort to get back on and get going again, we also know that once we do, the journey will be much easier and more fun. And we realize that this bicycle we’re on is the most efficient vehicle known to humankind, so if we want to go somewhere, this is the easiest way to do it.
So, when you find yourself stuck in a ditch after falling or being pushed off your path, you only need to find that one small thing that will get you right back up again and heading off towards all the good stuff in life, like friends, a hearty lunch, a beer, or maybe a really good biking story.
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