Moving Thoughts

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.”-Friedrich Nietzsche

I love this quote because it has a couple of different meanings.  It can be taken literally.....Any time I go for a walk or a run (I hate running, by the way), I tend to have the clearest thoughts about my life and come up with the best writing ideas.  With every step, my thoughts are clear and I become more curious.  It can also be taken figuratively......If you are standing in the same place and not moving forward, you are staying the same person with the same routine; you are not exploring your future and your world.  If you don't constantly explore, what great thoughts are you going to have about anything? You have the same thoughts over and over and if you aren't careful, you will become stale, comfortable, and never change.  This isn't how human beings are supposed to be. 

 

I once heard a preacher say that we are finicky because we hate boredom and don't like something to be too easy but then we also tend to complain when something is complicated or difficult. The latter is the better way to be.  By nature, we are supposed to change and push ourselves.  Most of  the time, the most important things are the hardest, the most rewarding are the most challenging and doing exactly what you don't want to do is necessary.  It's true in the gym and throughout your life....no pain no gain. 

 

Just as soon as I master something, I am onto something more challenging.  I feel like it would be less exhausting not to have this appetite to conquer because there is a part of you that wonders as you're doing it if you will ever be happy or feel "settled".  For me, the answer is no.  The only way "feeling settled" is in the cards is just to accept this about myself.  I am always moving.  I am being the way God made me and I will probably change many many times before I die.  The day I die, I will be done growing.  I will be disappointed many more times, I will love many more, I will feel on top of the world, and low as scum. And this is fine with me. I am perfecting myself while fumbling, and it will never stop.