It's harder to stop an object in motion

The day started off like any other. Frosty. The branches had frozen over, from a night of rain. Giving off a texture as if they were made of glass.

We all have those moments when we want to be a child again. When we were bouncing on a trampoline, eating around the crust, or going sledding down a hill. Retreating back to the simpler times, when we had no stress. Or the stress was what sled we were going to choose.

My brother, a couple friends, and I would meet in the garage. Sifting through the sleds. The plastic saucer one was always the fastest. Then you had the double person plastic bottomed one, that was a unique blend of blue and black. Finally finding the one we all wanted. A hybrid between the two, with a plastic bottom and two handles on top. It was this brilliant baby blue color.

Waiting on someone to drive us, we would get bored. So we’d play in the snow next to the house, molding snowballs into an imperfect sphere.

Finally, we got someone to drive us. We loaded everything up, and off we went.

The hill was close to our house, the drive was short. Driving through the high school parking lot, we started to drift. You could feel the tires gliding on the ice underneath the snow. We arrived.

We all hop out of the car, eager to face the daunting hill. Sometimes I would forget to grab my sled. Rushing to see what awaits me. Just staring down at the baseball field at the end of this what felt like a double black diamond.

As you looked down the hill you’d see where other people made ramps to launch off of. What I failed to realize when I was younger, was the all obstacles in the way. The rock in the distance, or the countless trees that framed the hill.

That boxed you in like a cage.

I run back to the car with excitement plastered on my face. I grab the sled. Ready to conquer this hill. As I grip the handles on that baby blue sheet of plastic. I take a look left, and pan right to see my friends.

I was undoubtedly scared, probably saying something along the lines of “3, 2, 1... GO!!”. Then off to the races. We begin in the unknown.

I don’t really know what prompted me to remember those memories. I was trying to come up with this weeks post. I have been bad about writing.

I was at the airport coming home from vacation, sitting there on a layover, reflecting on my year. Oh how far we have come in 2025. We set something in motion. Then it hit me. Motion. Trying to stop something going down a hill, or running full speed at you is impossible.

Most of us know about Newtons First law: “Objects in motion tend to stay in motion, unless a force is acted upon it.”. While this is meant to apply to physical objects. I like the poor mans philosophical version of it. Applying it to ourselves.

We all feel it, when you’re on a run. It just seems like it can’t end. It doesn’t or at least it is only stopped when you do. Powering through seems to be the message of it. Keep going. Run with it.

I recently have not been in a good headspace. You might think “you should be”, you were just on vacation. Away from it all. The city, the work, the cattiness.

I have just been hard on myself for not accomplishing more. Not doing enough. I wrote last week about the scroll and how it hijacks us. I have been hijacked for well over a month. Just constantly scrolling.

It just shows you all the progress you haven’t made, or at least it makes you compare yourself against this propaganda. Think I should be there, or what is wrong with me.

Then it hit me, I snapped out of it. Just like when a short form video breaks you from the trance. Some inspirational thing or what have you. It is all about longevity. So these feelings I have been having about wanting to “quit”, or “stop” are normal. The caveat is that you can’t. I can’t.

Kinetic energy beats potential energy 100% of the time. Unless something is acted on it, and that something is you. You are the only one that can stop the roll you are on.

That is the force that stops everything.

And yes I am sure there is the counterclaim of what if you have this life altering event. What if your uncle dies, or your grandma gets diagnosed with cancer again. I am not going to disregard that, because that does have a debilitating effect. It does stop your world, but just for a moment. Those are the exact moments when you can’t give up. Prove it to yourself that you can endure. Endure whatever hardship that is coming your way. In this season or the next one, because you know what. That is just life. Shit happens.

“The show must go on.” as Queen famously said. Although I don’t listen to them...

The show continues on for another year, like always.

Everyone is out here setting New Year’s resolutions which I am all for. I love when people aim at a target and shoot. The truth though is it tends to not stick, people want to say they are going after their goals. Most people don’t. That might be cynical, and a little bit condescending. Maybe on some level I feel like I am not achieving my goals fast enough.

The act of doing is more than most people. Those habits build you. It is not the drastic one day win. It is the tiny micro actions that add up to the big win at the end of the month, or in three months, or a year.

Everyone is out here posting their 2025 year recaps, but I hardly see people posting their 2026 goals. Some people are, don’t get me wrong. I have seen a couple reels of people putting it out there. Those are the people I am trying to be like.

So let me follow suit. Here are my 2026 goals:

These are just some of the ones that I thought of back on Christmas Eve. I am sure this will evolve throughout the year. I am just trying to keep myself more accountable, by putting it out there.

This year I am trying to conquer fear. Like when I was a kid looking down the hill. On that yell of a “GO!” whether it was in my head or out loud to my friends and brother. I jump on the sled and head down the dangerous path. Looking back on it, that was not the brightest move. With all those trees, rocks, metal fencing. All of those obstacles could have caused us serious harm.

Whether I knew it then, I know it now. There is going to be dangers that lie ahead. The real test of will is if you can keep going in spite of those dangers.

That is the biggest thing I learned in 2025. That I can persist through it all. The great, and the horrible. Keep going.