Take Four: On Resistance

I first came across the concept of resistance a couple of years ago. I saw a comment on Facebook of one of the participants in a conference called Solution 2010, a conference on social entrepreneurship. At first I didn't know what it was but after some digging on my part I found out it was a kind of force that stands between us and leading a creative life. The concept was introduced by Steven Pressfield in his book The War of Art. Resistance usually takes the form of an inner critic, fear and anxiety. Let's put it this way. For example you want to write a book but inner voices start telling you that you're not a writer, you have no talent, you have no time and your family won't agree to your creative endeavour. From my experience resistance has taken the form of my inner critic. I went through stages in my life when I deleted the stuff that I created based on the feeling that it just wasn't good enough. I've also had times when I started projects just to leave them flying around in cyberspace. 

Resistance in my life also took the form of fear, mostly fear of the unknown and public opinion. What exactly can you fear? Elizabeth Gilbert identifies in her book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear a couple of other fears. Here they are: 

"You’re afraid you have no talent. You’re afraid you’ll be rejected or criticized or ridiculed or misunderstood or—worst of all—ignored.You’re afraid there’s no market for your creativity, and therefore no point in pursuing it. You’re afraid somebody else already did it better. You’re afraid everybody else already did it better. You’re afraid somebody will steal your ideas, so it’s safer to keep them hidden forever in the dark. You’re afraid you won’t be taken seriously. You’re afraid your work isn’t politically, emotionally, or artistically important enough to change anyone’s life.You’re afraid your dreams are embarrassing. You’re afraid that someday you’ll look back on your creative endeavors as having been a giant waste of time, effort, and money. You’re afraid you don’t have the right kind of discipline. You’re afraid you don’t have the right kind of workspace, or financial freedom, or empty hours in which to focus on invention or exploration. You’re afraid you don’t have the right kind of training or degree. You’re afraid you’re too fat. (I don’t know what this has to do with creativity, exactly, but experience has taught me that most of us are afraid we’re too fat, so let’s just put that on the anxiety list, for good measure.) You’re afraid of being exposed as a hack, or a fool, or a dilettante, or a narcissist. You’re afraid of upsetting your family with what you may reveal. You’re afraid of what your peers and coworkers will say if you express your personal truth aloud. You’re afraid of unleashing your innermost demons, and you really don’t want to encounter your innermost demons. You’re afraid your best work is behind you. You’re afraid you never had any best work to begin with. You’re afraid you neglected your creativity for so long that now you can never get it back. You’re afraid you’re too old to start. You’re afraid you’re too young to start. You’re afraid because something went well in your life once, so obviously nothing can ever go well again.You’re afraid because nothing has ever gone well in your life, so why bother trying? You’re afraid of being a onehit wonder.You’re afraid of being a no hit wonder . . .”

Wow, lots of fears, right? So how do you deal with resistance? Well, Steven tells us to turn pro. In other words show up everyday and get to work. Nevermind the inner critic, just get stuff done.  Yes. Sweat and tears and a bountiful reward. Another way to short-circuit your inner critic is the five second rule. Whenever you don't feel like doing the work you count to five and that makes to want to jump into action. Pretty simple, I know. 

So there you have it. Resistance. Now you know what it is and how to stop it from meddling with your creativity.