Most of us live two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands resistance.
\n ~Steve Pressfield<\/p>\n
The back cover of this book asks a question that I yelled \u201cYES\u201d as an answer! YES, I dream about writing the Great American Novel! Now that I\u2019ve cleared that up\u2026how do I move from dreaming about it to doing it? I was hoping that this book would provide a road map. It did not! It did, however, help me to see the areas that are holding me back in not just this goal but a few goals. Apparently, Resistance is what is keeping me from reaching my goals.<\/p>\n
Resistance<\/p>\n
I was eager to understand how resistance was contributing to my procrastination. Actually, I also really wanted to know how they differed. I am sure that I have at least two novels waiting to come out. Pressfield offers, \u201cThere\u2019s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don\u2019t, and the secret is this: It\u2019s not the writing part that\u2019s hard. What\u2019s hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.\u201d(1) Although his reference to wannabe writers seems a bit harsh, Pressfield may have a point. Perhaps the thing that is stopping us is simply not starting. This may be equivalent to something that my Daddy used to say, \u201cShowing up is half the battle!\u201d or in this case, sitting down is half the battle. Pressfield explains it as, \u201cresistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole. Resistance is protean. It will assume any form, if that what it takes to deceive you.\u201d(2) Resistance is the thing that tells you that you can\u2019t do it, it is the self-imposed obstacle. I instantly began to think about what fuels resistance. <\/p>\n
Resistance and Rationalization<\/p>\n
I am not surprised that, \u201cResistance is Fear\u201d(3). It seems that many ugly and counter-productive things stem from fear. Pressfield goes deeper with this, he says, \u201cResistance doesn\u2019t want us to do this. So, it brings in Rationalization. Rationalization is Resistance\u2019s spin doctor.\u201d (4) We began to rationalize all the reasons that we shouldn\u2019t complete a project or can\u2019t go any further with a task. It actually is a frightening realization at how gifted I am at rationalizing my mediocrity or lack of motivation. He continues, \u201cInstead of showing us our fear (which might shame us and impel us to do our work), Resistance presents us with a series of plausible, rational justifications for why we shouldn\u2019t do our work.\u201d(5)<\/p>\n
A Critter that Keeps Coming<\/p>\n
I wanted to understand Resistance and how it manifests in our lives. It\u2019s a hard concept for me to grasp because I have been trained to see procrastination as the thing that stands in my way, and I think of the word Resistance in a completely different context. Resistance, for me, has meant an organized way to combat an injustice. Pressfield introduces it as something that only exists because we give it power. I had to wrap my mind around that. He says, \u201cBecause Resistance is a bully. Resistance has no strength of its own; its power derives entirely from our fear of it. A bully will back down before the runtiest twerp who stands his ground.\u201d(6) He suggests that we have the power to defeat resistance by changing our behavior, our habits. He gives us this advice, \u201cWhen we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen. A process is set into motion by which, inevitably and infallibly, heaven comes to our aid. Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose.\u201d(7) I think he may have given me a solution! I must develop a routine of writing daily to achieve my goal of giving the world The Great American Novel. The Resistance that I have entertained and welcomed to return day after day must be stripped of its power. The fear of failing must be met with drive to fulfill my dream. Hmmm\u2026where does wifedom, motherhood, doctoral life, preaching life and consulting all fit in that picture? I am praying my way through all aspects of these roles, I guess I need to add novel writing to the list and put the pen to the paper. More to come, Loved Ones!<\/p>\n
1.Steven Pressfield, The War of Art (New York, NY: Black Irish Entertainment, 2012).Intro.
\n2. Ibid.,9.
\n3. Ibid.,55.
\n4. Ibid.,55.
\n5. Ibid.,55.
\n6. Ibid.,99.
\n7. Ibid.,108.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most of us live two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands resistance. ~Steve Pressfield The back cover of this book asks a question that I yelled \u201cYES\u201d as an answer! YES, I dream about writing the Great American Novel! Now that I\u2019ve cleared that up\u2026how do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310,555],"tags":[2940],"class_list":["post-34495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","category-drama","tag-dlgp02-pressfield","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34495"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34500,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34495\/revisions\/34500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}