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I was stunned into awareness by a big bang this morning, well it may have been more of a metallic clatter. As I lay in bed, still unwilling to move, I ran through the different possibilities in my head of what the sound had been and where it had come from. I ruled out home-invasion, animals (except a few of those pesky ants) and burglary, which only left that something, somewhere in the house had been unable to defy gravity any longer and had fallen or jumped of its perch.

A little like Newton and the apple landing on his head, something falling down made me think about the different forces there are in the world, gravity being one of the big four. Without it the earth wouldn’t orbit around the sun, the moon couldn’t circle around the earth and we would all find it very hard to keep our feet on the ground.

Gravity is also the reason for fad diets and weight issues, without it we would all just float around, weightless, unaware of kilos, pounds and stones. We also use gravity to describe something really important, weighty or serious and words spoken with gravity mean they are solemn and dignified. The opposite of gravity is levity, which means frivolous, silly and changeable, in physics a theoretical force inherent to an object.

With these metaphysical thoughts floating around in my mind, no gravity there, I wandered around my home seeking the fallen object. To my surprise on the kitchen floor lay a lighthearted metal sign telling me I was queen, that had succumb to its own weight and the pull of gravity.

As I lifted up the sign and with the help of a pin defied gravity again, I decided that no matter how big the force, gravity is something I am quite happy to do without. Maybe this is not possible in a physical sense but in a philosophical one it is. This doesn’t mean I have to run around town dressed like a clown, but it will mean that I can try and make a conscious decision to not to take things to seriously and see the silliness in life, simply picking levity over gravity.

So like Elphaba in Wicked I think it’s time to make my own rules, defy the limits people set and just leap. So if you hear a big bang and a loud clatter it’s just me coming back to earth with the full force of gravity, levity letting me down.