Do you guys remember Hazel Boot? Gosh, she’s great. I love the story of how we “met”.
The other day she reached out. And we did some really cool quote sharing. We worked out that we’re both people who need to move a lot. As in, exercise, hike, ride and traverse vast tracts of ground, as well as to pack up and leave, have adventures and to weave between relationships.
Movers can get shaky at times. We fret that we should be stiller. That we should have mortgages and more scented candles and throw cushions. But something in us propels us forward. Onward. Upwards.
Hazel gets it and shared a quote from biomechanist and full-time mover Katy Bowman. Hazel wrote to me, “She is amazeballs. And your movement spirit animal, I think.”
This is the quote she sent:
“You need to move more than you do right now. You not only need to move more, you must also move better. You not only need to move more and better, you must also move with other people, and move through, around and over some natural terrain. If you can’t convince your tribe to move more, you must create a new tribe. Which often requires (ironically) that you move. Move at your job, or move jobs, move homes, or at least move furniture around or out of your home. Your contribution toward a solution to many problems, whether they’re related to illness or finances or loneliness or boredom or feeding the underfed or freeing the oppressed, can often be ‘move more’.”
What a salve. What a sweet moment in reassurance. It reminds me of Barbara Sher’s advice to “scanners” (roughly: it’s OK to flit between different activities, never perfecting any of them).
I am now, at 43, quite at peace with my need to move. I’ve had to let go of attachment to objects and possessions and security. But once I did, I realised I always wanted to. It’s part of the “need to move” experience, which, in essence, is a response to a visceral yearning for ultimate freedom.
That said, it’s certainly nice to know others feel the same, and recognise the commitment and sacrifice entailed to live this way.
I know not everyone likes to move. Many of my friends and family abhor the idea. They love nesting? I’d love feedback from anyone who chooses nesting…
