By Debbie Olujobi

Sir Isaac Newton is easily regarded as one of the greatest minds in mathematics/physics. To him is credited the 3 laws of motion; the 1st one, also known as the law of Inertia is attributed to an equally great mind Galileo. Coincidentally Isaac Newton was born the same year Galileo died; a good argument that both men demonstrated the beauty of motion by passing the baton, one to the other in their exemplary existence.

Now before I get carried away by my obvious awe of these 2 great men I should explain what the laws actually mean. The 1st law states that every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it, better put; it means that there is a natural tendency of objects to keep on doing what they’re doing.

All objects resist changes in their state of motion. In the absence of an unbalanced force, an object in motion will maintain this state of motion; according to Galileo it’s the law of inertia. It seems to me that behind all the scientific mumbo jumbo; there is a legitimate case being made for the constant change that is a part of life in all levels of existence.

The laws are the scientific explanation for change; change happens, change is happening, change will happen; it’s the law of motion. The changes are not always voluntary, sometimes external forces are the catalysts but the nature of anything will be modified by the event of change and its resultant effect.

In the late eighties there was a song by a group called “Soul 2 Soul”; the title was “Keep on moving”; we can’t stay motionless. Lately I have become rather enamoured of those people who actually welcome change than those who have it shoved down their throats. At this point I must shamefacedly confess that I am one of those who have it rammed down their throats. Like most humans, I am a creature of habit; I have established routines and comfort zones.

I fantasise about adventure and even exotic places but remain rooted in the familiar. The thing about change is the challenge of trying. We all trust the tried out formulae’s of doing things, the people who try to suggest we do it differently are considered initially crazy for daring to try and then promoted to genius when we grudgingly admit they were right.

Change requires more effort, more guts and a lot more resources; sometimes a lot more than we have. Lately I have seen change that bothers on the miraculous and the last week will go down in my personal history as the week I stared my demons down and jumped down the throat of change.

It’s simple; if you want something you’ve never had; you have to do something you’ve never done; brings me to the 2nd law of motion. The 2nd law states that acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass (of the object being accelerated) the greater the amount of force needed (to accelerate the object). It’s a mathematical solution most people won’t understand but for those that do here goes; the relationship between an object’s mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors; in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector. To most of us it simply means heavier objects require more force to move the same distance as lighter objects.

When you finally decide to go the road less travelled; you become caught up in the velocity of motion and start happening to life. You see, I have this theory that life is what happens when you are not looking but when we actively get in motion and start pursuing change; we can happen to life.

The thing is how many of us are willing to press the pedal ad apply more force to get us moving in the direction that scares us the most? In my over four decades on this planet I have preferred the familiar and in most ways I still do, the change in my situation is actually more a consequence of divine benevolence, my only contribution has been not freaking out. My nearest and dearest is still keenly watching out for signs of any freak out!!!

The last and 3rd law I believe is the most popular and it’s easy “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The greatest reason we resist change is the reaction we anticipate. It’s not an exaggeration to emphatically state that change automatically brings a very strong resistance and reaction from our environment and those in it.

The explanation is that people live by expectation and when we break out of the norm we challenge their comfort. It calls them out for lacking the courage to do what they wished they could but didn’t. Change is a direct consequence of motion and no one puts it better than Newton.

Change from where I’m standing is pretty great. I have chosen to immerse all my 5 senses in change and it tastes feels, looks, smells and sounds great.  Its living life in motion; I can’t always predict it but it’s not boring or old.

It’s an attitude; a different approach to life and a total embrace of Newton’s vision. I have surmised that living according to expectation is as good as living dead and that won’t do; not anymore. Everything in nature is moving; so should we all.