Newton's Law of Motion

Newton's First Law of Motion states:
I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

 Applied to humans, once moving at a steady speed and in a straight line, you will continue moving at a steady speed in a straight line or if standing still will stay still and motionless. This is the easiest thing for us to do, maintain the status quo, because this is the path to a future we know... or at least have a pretty good idea about. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with keeping to the path you know. I was telling a friend this and I used the term "temporary future." I think the idea that there's a singular overarching grandiose future that you're to strive for is overwhelming and doesn't allow for the necessary moments of stability between periods of change and transition.

However, whether standing still or moseying on your path of choice, one inevitably encounters vectors. These are forces that alters your path. And here's where we have a very Shakespearean choice, to go or not to go.

Unlike inanimate objects who are at mercy to the whims of forces around them, we can choose how we react to these forces. I'm going to give you an example based on my most recent vector encounter which is partially responsible for this blog's appearance.

Shortly after the rather dismal 4th of July fireworks party on the Downtown Parking Garage Rooftop, I collided with several other apartment mates and my neighbor as we were all taking out our trash. Incidentally, I found myself listening to trash talk as the ladies around me had received their rental renewal notices informing them of $65 to $120 rent increases. My neighbor's had gone up by $85 last year and was horrified at the thought of another rent increase.

Last year I was lucky and received no rent increase, but I wasn't going to delude myself into thinking that happy occurrence would repeat itself.  "Sherry," I interrupted my spunky, white-haired neighbor's diatribe, "What are we going to do?"

 "I'm going to move." The "of course" was implied through stern eyes. 

Why was her reaction "of course" and mine "what to do"? The simplest answer is people are different and they process information differently.I'll give you an example and a little background.

Last weekend my awesome and beautiful friend (mind, spirit and body) Julie flew in from San Diego. I drove her down to her parents and we were going to stay the weekend to help setup and celebrate her parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary. I was the only non-family member in a house bursting with family and I foresaw some potential issues with this but Julie was adamant that I was family and it would be fine... and it was until Saturday morning.

 Julie has this soft and gentle way of waking me up. She places both hands on my back and does a swirling, patting, petting motion. I always wake smiling, but this time I saw something was wrong. Reading her body language and picking up some of the nuances behind her words I quickly realized I "needed another place to be" as I later explained to another friend. 

It took me only a few minutes to come to this conclusion and develop a plan for finding another place to stay. I told her what I thought I should do but I could see Julie was wrestling with it. Rather than try to convince her that my decision was the correct course of action, I suggested a walk. Coffee in hand for her and yogurt for me, she talked it out for 20 minutes, working through the layers of her thought processes.

 "What do you think?" she asked.

"I've already told you what I think. I'm just waiting for you to get there too."

We laughed because the statement was true. Julie and I usually come to the same conclusion regarding situations, it just takes her a little longer to get there. There's nothing wrong with a thorough and methodical decision making process and there's no "right" length of time in which a decision must be made.

I found myself in switched roles with Sherry's quick retort and my lapsing indecision. You see, the apartment had applied a new vector to our path and being human and not inanimate objects, we had a choice to make. Sherry's decision was quick, she'll move. But mine took longer as I carefully and methodically examined my options.

1. Succumb to the apartment's vector force and pay the higher rent which meant less money in the budget for other things.
2.  Try to convince the apartment to to reduce the increase amount which still means less money in the budget for other things.
3. Try to convince the apartment to forgo the increase and maintain status quo; however, it doesn't mitigate the chances of higher increases following the next renewal. 
4. Leave the apartment.

Admittedly, I was not crazy about option 1 through 3 because I could almost guarantee myself unmitigated stress. Even option 4 has stressful elements but there I found hope for a better temporary future. I started to consider if it was time to leave my current temporary future and reach for a new one.