Resistance

I woke up today at a slow pace. I didn’t know why but I was so drowsy even with 7 or 8 hours of sleep. I gathered up all the energy inside and jumped out of bed.

My phone beeped to notify me that I had a workout today. My body cried- Not today! I went to the toilet and got back. I didn’t want to work out, so I tried to avoid it. After a few minutes of reasoning, I convinced myself to proceed with my workout.

It's leg day today. I can't bear those. The first 5 to 10 minutes were horrible. My body begged for me to stop; the pain was excruciating. I tried to focus on the music and go along with it and avoided my body crying out for me to stop. Fifteen minutes into my workout, I was sweating, breathing like the room was out of oxygen, and my chest was pounding. I know what you are thinking, "he must be out of shape."

I had a thought that said, “what would happen if you just kept going?” I said, “maybe another time.” But it kept coming; five minutes went by, then 10 minutes, and the pain was bearable. Thirty minutes into the workout, I started to enjoy it. I still felt a good amount of pain in my legs, but I kept on.

After I finished my workout, I no longer felt that drowsy feeling. I felt more energized. That resistance I had within me when I got up or started to work out was gone. This brings me to what I want to share with you today.

Steven Pressfield talks about resistance in his book The War of Art. He says, “resistance comes when there is any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity it aims to shove us away, distract us, and prevent us from doing the work." He states, "resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. Resistance is the enemy within." You can look into his work at https://stevenpressfield.com/.

This resistance that he talks about, we cannot see it, cannot touch it, cannot smell it, but we have all felt it. When we are about to study, we feel the urge to watch an episode of Friends. When we are about to wake up and go to class, we feel the urge to sleep in. When we are about to call a friend whom we missed, we feel the urge to let go. It is always there in every little of the acts we do every day.

What is interesting is; resistance peaks at the start of what we wish to do. It is defeated by momentum and energized by inattention and fear. It never ceases to exist, no matter what we do or where we go. We must work along with it. We feel it and do it anyway.

In my workout today, I had moments where I thought that “I went too far” or “it was too much.” When I started to go a little bit more and build momentum, that thought faded away. Our body is meant to avoid pain. We adapted to avoiding pain to survive. We took the path of least resistance. It helped our species exist on earth far longer than any other species. But what once was a survival tool now became a restraint. That restraint is keeping us in our comfort zone. 

Pain is inevitable. If we avoid it today, we will bear with tomorrow. So why not just feel it now and get it over with?

Our life is filled with resistance. Even while I was writing this, I felt a whole lot. I don’t know what you are feeling today or what you want to do; either way, you have felt what I am saying once or twice today, if not more. All I want to ask you to do is to go along with it; call that friend, go out for that hike, hit the gym, start your weight loss program, or start writing that thesis you have been meaning to write. Whatever resistance you have been feeling will never go. Just do it.

                   Be all you can be.✌

Let me know your comments below. 👇