Rolling Stones

            As a Boy Scout a few years ago (give or take 30), we were on one of those hikes up in the mountains. At the top of a very steep hill we started rolling flat stones down to see how far they would go. As each stone left our hands, it would pick up speed and go crashing through the trees and bushes with incredible violence. Huge branches would be sliced from trees that would normally have taken a chainsaw to cut off. I was amazed that such a small stone could do such damage just from rolling down a hill.

 

            Being older now, I’ve come to understand two things. 1- We were being incredibly reckless with the environment. And 2- It’s really hard to stop something once it gets going. The first one I’ve made amends for by planting lots of trees, but the second still causes problems for me at times.

            I’ve developed a routine here at the farm which gets me through each day without feeling too lonely. When I go back into town for a day or two, I forget my routine and things go to pot. My depression gets worse, which is not to be blamed on my wife’s cooking, and I put on a pound or two, which can be blamed on my wife’s cooking.

            So, what’s the connection between that and rocks rolling down hills? Simply this; my bad habits of eating too much, eating too much sugar, watching too much TV, and not writing down what happens in my life (plus many more) have been rolling downhill for a very long time and have a lot of momentum behind them. I’m trying to stop those habits and have only been doing so for a few months. They say it only takes three weeks to develop a new habit, but I don’t think that always works if you’re trying to stop one. The old habit has been chopping up things for years and isn’t about to stop just because I say it’s time.

            The advantage we have over the rock is this: we have brakes. If you believe in God, you have power brakes and you can stop faster with the added assistance. If you don’t have power brakes, you can still stop, it just won’t be as easy. No matter what kind of brakes you have, there’s going to be a lot of friction. The steeper and longer the hill, the more friction will be created when you apply the brakes. Friction creates heat, which can be a bad thing when there’s too much of it.

            No matter how much friction there is, just keep the pressure on. People may try to convince you it’s not worth the effort, advertisers may claim that there’s no hill at all, and you may be deathly tired, but keep it up. The important thing is stopping, not how hard it may be at the time. Keep in mind what you want to be when you get stopped: skinnier, healthier, a better father or mother, a better spouse, or a fantastic blog writer. No matter what it is, it will be worth it.

            One more piece of advice before I stop this time. Don’t roll stones down hills, you never know what’s at the bottom and you can’t control the direction it will roll. Especially don’t do it if your car is parked at the bottom of the hill!