Do you know Newton’s first law? If you don’t remember that is okay. I’ll remind you. The first law says that an object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will stay in motion unless either is acted on by an unbalanced force. While this is a physics principle, I think it applies to how we live our lives. When I am on and moving my life forward, I keep going until I hit a wall. I keep going until I can’t anymore and skip rest until the opposite force that is my body shuts down. On the other hand, when I am slowing down and resting, sometimes it turns into laziness. I keep “resting” because chilling on the couch seems far more attractive than doing that run and being productive. I’m pretty great at both extremes. In fact recently, I’ve been in rest phase and now probably longer than I should have been. It is time to move, but when I think about moving I get scared because I truly don’t know what is next.
How do I get to what is next? For me it is a lot of journaling, praying, gratitude practice, and talking with friends. It is daunting to think about what is next when you’re an achiever that wants to please others, especially when you think there could be something else/something more other than the traditional course laid out for you(r profession). I had to and am still currently working on releasing my initial thoughts and feelings about what “I’m supposed to be”.
At the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021, I picked my word of the year for 2021. I thought long and hard about this and came up with the perfect word, “align”. I wanted my actions and choices to align with the person I wanted to be. Within the past month-ish, in such a poetic fashion I hit that metaphorical wall after going non-stop and had to lean into releasing the idea of being what I thought before. I had to release the align word and accept that it is okay to change. And that maybe, just maybe, my “alignment” to be who I am supposed to be comes with releasing the idea that I had originally set. The more I reflect the more I realize that the tighter I hold onto the rope the bigger rope burn I get instead of releasing and finding something even better.
So currently, I’m starting to try different things because getting movement started is better than staying put trying to fit myself into a plan that I have outgrown. I have released the idea that my plan has to stay the same. Onward and upward…..but sometimes sideways and backward. But always onward! Why? Because each step gives you a different perspective. Release the idea that you have to stick to the original plan and that the only way is forward. While rest is important, any movement is better than just sitting there.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite verses, Ephesians 2:10. “For you are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” You see you are a masterpiece and the good works you’ll do are already planned. So it is okay and sometimes encouraged to release your own goals and just start trying new things, which will lead you to the good works that were planned in advance.
For you are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
Greater Than 