There is a ridiculous fact that physicists have known for a few hundred years. Objects in motion remain in motion.
This is completely counter intuitive, goes again common sense, and does not match our expectation or perception. If thought about deeper, it seems to imply some sort of a perpetual motion machine. I feel we read about this is high school physics but do not register what it implies — or that’s what happened to me for the longest time.
But it is true. The Voyager will keep on flying till eternity, unless something else comes along and stops it.
It is also a very calming fact.
I once read a quote from an executive of a huge company somewhere. I don’t remember who they were, or their words at all, but the gist of it (or what my memory conjures) was that non-small organizations like multi-national companies are like rudderless ships that have already set sail. The public, or shareholders, have an illusion of control, but the truth is that the CEO can neither make or break the company, it is travelling on its own momentum now.
There are exceptions to this, charismatic leaders, the Napoleans and the Jobs. So it is not a hard fact of nature. But it is something that generally applies to most companies that we deal with, the government that we live under, the universities that we study in. There is no one in charge, they run on their own.
The executive was bemoaning how hard it was to get anything done, because the company does not respond to commands. But he was also trying to show the flip positive side of it - this inertia was a self defense the company had built up to safeguard its existence in the face of a destructive figurehead.
This too is a very calming fact.
Go on grasshopper, change the world, and do it at your own pace. You might succeed, and it is unlikely you’ll break it.
Addedum: After writing this, I found out that energy is apparently not conserved in our universe because it is expanding. A photon of (say, visible) light emitted during the big bang will reach us now as a much more sluggish (lower wavelength and thus less energetic) “relic radition”, which you might know from its less inspiring but more accurate name - the cosmic microwave background.
So the physics of what I’m saying is incorrect. And the metaphorical extension to organizations was always sus (if it were true, nobody would ever get anything done! Some people are indeed better at leading groups of people to great outcomes). So, like everything I say, this is complete hogwash.
But hey, the psychological trick still works for me (*shrug*). Whenever I stressing over my work and its urgency, I remind myself — objects in motion remain in motion — and poof, the false sense of importance disappears, leaving a calm and curious existence.