“Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what resistance is.”
This is one of my favorite quotes from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I love it and hate it all at the same time. I love and hate it for the same reason—I am guilty of these things. I know many of you are, too. I know this because I often teach about the concepts of resistance inspired by this book to many of my students and clients, and I teach it because when I do, they usually have the same massive a-ha moments I have had. And even more importantly, they finally understand what’s really going on with them.
So, what is really going on with these writers that don’t write and painters that don’t paint? Are they just bad at those things? Nooooo. On the contrary, Pressfield states that, as rule of thumb, “The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more resistance we will feel towards pursuing it.”
Uh oh. Now it’s even more in some of your faces. I’d say that over 95% of the population suffers from this dis-ease of resistance. It’s so sad because most people let resistance win and they don’t create what they are here to create, and the rest of us never get to experience it.
What you are most meant to do during this lifetime is what you’ll have the most resistance to doing. The great thing about knowing this is that you can now use it as a guidance system to help direct you forward, often towards the answer to the question so many people are constantly asking themselves: “What’s my purpose?” It’s highly possible that your purpose lies in the thing you want to do but don’t want to do. 😉
Instead of focusing on your “purpose,” ask yourself this question: What is that thing (or those things) that I feel I’m supposed to do but just keep making very clever excuses not to? And no, your answer is not about doing the dishes. It’s more like taking action on that special/strange/brilliant idea that keeps knocking at your mind’s door saying, “Hello… I’m still here waiting for you to bring me into existence, pretty please.”
How long are you going to make that idea wait? How many excuses are you going to keep making? How many limiting beliefs are you going to keep recycling?
Resistance (or self sabotage) is a very real thing. It takes courage and determination to win our inner battles and step into a higher level of ourselves that supports a larger, bolder, more authentic version of us. The War of Art is about the concept of resistance and how resistance plays a major role in us not stepping into our greatness. I won’t spoil the book for you as I think it’s a great read.
Consider this the sign you’ve been looking for to go forth and conquer your resistance and self sabotage and start taking action on the things you are here to do! If you’re not quite there yet, I encourage you to ask yourself the questions above and start investigating what those special things might be for you. The world needs you to create the things only you can create.
“Don’t die with your music still in you.” – Wayne Dyer
