An Object in Motion

Newton's First Law and My Aching Knees

I didn’t pay much attention in physics class. I think I remember two things from it. One of them is Newton’s First Law.

An object in motion stays in motion. An object at rest stays at rest.

It’s true in the universe, and it’s true in us.

In my mid forties, I started to slow down. My knees ached. My back nagged. Getting out of bed felt like work. I told someone I felt like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. Everything needed oil.

I figured that’s just what happens as you get older.

Then a doctor said, “Try walking. Thirty minutes a day. Four or five days a week.”

So I did.

At first, it didn’t seem like much. A few blocks here, a couple miles there.

Over time.. the stiffness faded. The mornings got easier. My legs lighter. My head clearer.

That was almost ten years ago.

Walking for me has become routine. Some days it’s in the St. Louis heat, others in the cold. I don’t always want to, but I try to force myself to go anyway.

I work to overcome that inertia……..to be an object in motion.

Over those years, I’ve listened to hundreds of books. Hemingway. Steinbeck. Orwell. Dostoevsky. Tolstoy. Biographies of John Adams, Ben Franklin, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk. Books about how we got here: Sapiens, Guns, Germs and Steel, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs.

I’ve learned more on those walks than I ever did in Physics class.

If I could go back in time, I’d tell my younger self to start walking immediately… that walking isn’t just exercise.

It’s movement: physical, mental, emotional.

You think better when you move. You feel better. You become better.

It’s like investing. Small deposits made every day.

The return is your well-being, and it compounds quietly, consistently, significantly over time.

Motion creates more motion. Stillness breeds stillness.

It’s not complicated. But it’s the difference between decline and growth.

An object in motion stays in motion.

I’m still walking.

If you’re looking for a place to make a change, start with a walk.

Become an object in motion, and then….

Keep going.