“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom” Anais Nin

The above quote is the reason why we should beat resistance, because there may just become a time when not beating it, and not doing your life’s work, what you were meant to do, not growing into your full potential, will be more painful than the pain it will take to change and grow.

Here is what resistance is for me………..

I was supposed to start this article five hours ago. Then I realised that I needed more tea bags. Then I needed to go for a walk to clear my head, then I started and felt a brick in my stomach and friend called so I went for a walk with her, hoping that she would inspire me to write this.

The fact of the matter is, I LOVE to write, and, even more so, I love to write about anything to do with personal development/empowerment, life. Yet you wouldn’t have thought it with the way I was avoiding  it as though it was some deadly disease. It’s called resistance, and resistance almost beat me today. It creeps up on us when we are about to pursue the thing we love the most, the thing we were born to do.

Resistance is the thing that will have me believe that I absolutely need more tea otherwise I can’t write, and it’s a thing that feels like a brick in your stomach weighing you down, keeping you paralysed, unable to move or feel, or even remember what you were supposed to be doing.  It gives you a huzzy fead (oh sorry I meant to say fuzzy head).Resistance will  bully you and tell you that you are no good at it anyway so why bother. (more tea!) Resistance is absolutely real, it  is fear.

When I have coached people about fear, often the response has been “I don’t think I have any fear about doing this, I just don’t have enough…..(fill in the excuses) ” Because to admit that you have fear makes you look weak, but if you have a REAL excuse then it’s ok, it validates you not living the life you would love to live, the life you were born to live where you are living your full potential and everything flows. Yet resistance is really clever because it creates excuses that are actually real, and appear real. Like I don’t have any money, I have to look after my mother, I need to study for these exams first, there is no way I could ever move to that country because so and so needs me.

 They are all excuses we have unconsciously created. We create the illusion of being trapped so we don’t have to do what we REALLY want to do. The thing that would ultimately make us feel good about ourselves. Do you see the paradox?

After reading War of Art, I will never again underestimate the power resistance has over our minds and our lives. I would recommend this book to anyone who is attempting a new project, no matter how large or small.

For some reason I think I may have had this ridiculous dellusion that, the older I got, the more I would beat resistance, and the more resistance would probably disappear. But the crazy thing was, I think the actual resistance was that I was waiting to get older, for my resistance to go away before I REALLY lived my passion. How ridiculous is that? All unconscious at the end of the day but it’s hilarious when I think about it.

And NOW we have all sorts of things to distract us from what we really love to do. We have facebook, twitter, i phones, all number of things to keep us busy and distract us.

So… anyway, resistance is beating me and I am going to the shop AGAIN to get some more teabags as the ones I bought were decaf, I will no doubt find more things to distract me on my way. But look,  if this rambling post has inspired ANYONE to recognise and beat their resistance, I have done some good today.

Oh, and if you are still feeling really really stuck ask yourself, “What am I afraid of? This works!