There is an intangible force, an invisible foe that is with us. It knows our every move, our every desire our every dream. It seeks to stop us in our tracks and encourages us to embrace the norm, to be in love with complacency. Who is this arch enemy? Well, it doesn’t have a name but Steven Pressfield ingeniously calls it resistance.
RESISTANCE! Think about it! Every time you want to do something meaning to advance yourself, you are met with a list of excuses, fears and yes- procrastination. It almost feels like a chore to do what you love or what you have always dreamed of. You fear failure and chose to postpone your efforts until you master the art of perfection, which does not exist (in my opinion). It’s good to dream, but it is even better to take the necessary steps to realize those dreams. That is why we need to overcome resistance.
Steven Pressfield explains about resistance in his masterpiece- the war of art. He states:
Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease, and dysfunction. Resistance is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, harder to kick than crack cocaine. We’re not alone if we’ve been mown down by Resistance; millions of good men and women have bitten the dust before us. And here’s the biggest problem: We don’t even know what hit us. I never did. From age 24 to 32, Resistance kicked my ass from East Coast to West and back again 13 times, and I never even knew it existed. I looked everywhere for the enemy and failed to see it right in front of my face.
In this book that speaks to me dearly, Steven lists activities that elicit resistance. I quickly identified with activity number 7 (my favorite number)- EDUCATION OF EVERY KIND! When I read that I was floored. I have been trying to go back to school for my masters in public health for 4 years now. I have always encountered resistance. It has come in many forms as described in the book- fear, procrastination etc.
So last week, I decided to take the first crucial step to overcome my enemy. I decided to book for my GRE exam. The worst thing that will happen is that I fail, but guess what; I can always re-take the test. For those in the same predicament and whatever activity resistance is hindering you from accomplishing, heed my advice…take the FIRST step and then take it all over again. You can never completely erase resistance, it is there to stay but you can re-write the way you approach this insidious thing.
I leave you with the words of Mr. Pressfield on how to overcome it:
”How many pages have I produced? I don’t care. Are they any good? I don’t even think about it. All that matters is I’ve put in my time and hit it with all I’ve got. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session I have overcome Resistance.”