Inertia

"Inertia" defines quite a few aspects of my life.  Described by Newton, it's a resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest.

Take sleep for example.  If I'm awake, I tend to stay awake.  And if I'm asleep, I stay asleep.  Whether I need that sleep or not is a secondary consideration.  You could call me a "night owl" or someone with a longer than 24-hour biological clock - both of which are probably true - but my current theory about these strange hours is that my melatonin (the hormone that produces sleepiness) operates under the Law of Inertia.  And thus this Object at rest will stay at rest and this same Object in motion will stay in motion.  

Or look at my record of high school activities.  Once I joined something, it was for keeps.  Badminton: all four years.  Spanish: all four years.  Swim team and Honor Society came later, but I never left.  I tried to quit Band, but after a couple of months away I came crawling back... I just missed it too much.  

Oh, and yes: I was a Nerd.  Thanks for noticing :)

At present, my life is in hiatus, with many elements in a state of flux and motion.  I've been deliberately encouraging that state so that before I become an object at rest again there is time to consider my decisions.  For better or worse, I'm not a quitter.  And so every long term decision becomes more weighty, because my commitment is difficult to question or shake.  

Ben was so valuable to me because he didn't have the same blindness to the constants in our lives.  He was forever making me get a new computer, or move to another state, or just plain re-balance my priorities.  He also had an incredible optimism about change, and the worthiness of the time and effort it takes.  I miss that so much and I can only hope to partially emulate him now.