resistance: [ri-zis-tuh ns], noun

1. the act or power of resisting, opposing, or withstanding.

2. the opposition offered by one thing, force, etc., to another.

“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”

― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

This post is part book review and part life review. My life to be exact.

To say 2018 isn’t going as planned is a bit of an understatement. Oh, everything is fine, humming along as it should, but I have had my share of distractions along the way, and they continue to haunt my daily life. We’re talking first-world problems, here, but for a type A personality, distractions are the devil.

For exactly one year, I have claimed my place in the writing world. Obviously, I had written for a long time before that, but nothing ever came from it until I bravely started putting my work out there. And I say bravely, because you have no idea how hard that was (and still is) for me to do. Do I consider myself brave?

Hell no.

But sometimes I will do brave things. Like this post.

It’s been sitting in my head for weeks, maybe longer, just wanting to be written, but I kept finding other things to do (catch up on Grey’s Anatomy). Other reasons not to write it (no one wants to hear about your issues). More excuses every day (the ever-popular: I don’t have time). The truth is I’ve been in limbo for months now, probably since my dad’s accident. And now, we have to throw in job hunting, and I’m back in my teenage years wondering if I’m good enough. For me, there is nothing more humbling than updating a resume. This toxic combination of worry and doubt have been swirling in my thoughts for a while now, and quite honestly, I’m done with it, thank-you-very-much.

“Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared  [image error] we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”

― Steven Pressfield

The mind is a tricky thing, and I’m still learning how to make mine work in positive ways instead of the usual Captain Destructo mode it likes to go into. For me, the first thing I do when I get to this point of self-defeat, is to 1. recognize it’s just resistance, and 2. Re-read The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield.

It’s mostly written for writers, but I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t benefit from reading this little gem. It’s short, concise, and doesn’t beat around the bush. In a nutshell, fear is the reason we stop ourselves from doing the things we love (or should be doing), and fear = resistance.

So, be patient with me as I dive back into the deep end of writing another book. I’m still wrestling with the plot, and understand now, that it’s just resistance mocking me once again. I’m going to start it anyways. And every day I’m going to keep diving into the deep end I finally find that place where I can float.

If you have something in your own life that you are resisting, take a step back and figure out what is really going on. Getting out of our own heads is sometimes the best medicine.

“If you’re are paralyzed with fear it’s a good sign. It shows you what you have to do.”

― Steven Pressfield

Get this book!!

I hope you’re all reading something beachy this summer