Physical Therapy

My name is Matt Landfield. I’m 36 years old, and I have a four and a half year old son. I also have a
lovely wife, a nice home, and all the comforts and conveniences of modern living. One thing I also have is an injury to my right knee, which, over the course of several months, has gradually deepened and worsened, so that I can’t ignore it anymore. It’s not enough pain to make you cry out, but just enough to remind you of how uncomfortable you are when sitting down, no matter how accommodating the chair. Even standing still or climbing stairs is irritating sometimes.

So today was my first day of physical therapy. Though I’m only 36, I felt like an 80 year-old man trying to stretch my aching right leg out straight for the therapist, to show her how far my hamstrings could go.

Not very far.

This condition is unacceptable to me, and it is long past time that I did something about this, and I’m ruthless in my self-castigation—how could I let myself get to this point? Yet I’m not at all surprised that this battle has to be fought yet again, this struggle against inertia, which proves over and over again to be one of the most powerful forces in our lives.

No amount of resolve is ever enough to overcome it, inertia can only be overcome by an intensive influx of energy, and even then, it will always win in the end.

The challenge is to struggle against inertia, and in doing so, live— not try to overpower it.

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