3 Ways Resistance Shows Up to Stop You

In his book, The War of Art, Steven Pressfield describes an enemy, which he says, shows up anytime you set out to do any kind of work that will make a difference, either for you personally or for those around you. He names this enemy Resistance.

Resistance shows up with one goal and that is to “shove us away, distract us, and prevent us from doing our work.” Resistance will use any tactic at its disposable and any person it finds willing to help as a means to keep you from doing your work.

In the context of what I do, your work is all the things you need to do to shift your mindset and clear the inner blocks that are standing in your way. In this setting, there are 3 main ways I see resistance fairly frequently showing up:

Fear

“Resistance is fueled by fear.”

This is how resistance shows up most for my clients and others I serve. It typically presents itself in the form of stories related to all the things that “might” happen if you step up and do your work.

It’s the fear of failure (or success), the fear of what other people will think, the fear of losing control, the fear of missing out if you choose the “wrong” thing. All of these fears are a form of resistance.

Fear shows up to keep you inside your comfort zone, after all, look at all that could go wrong if you stepped outside it. But if you let it your fear can act as a North Star pointing you in the very direction you need to go.

When fear is present it is often a sign that you are moving in the right direction and you need to keep going.

Rationalization

“Rationalization is Resistance’s right-hand man…Resistance presents us with a series of plausible, rational justifications why we shouldn’t do our work.”

The place I see this show up most consistently is around money.

Coaching is an investment. It is an investment into you stepping into your highest and best self but the enemy of resistance does not want that for you.

It would rather you stay where you are and it will convince you that you can’t possible make the investment now; you’ll make it later (see procrastination below).

Pressfield goes on to say that while the rationalizations might sometimes be true, despite those challenges, not doing your work isn’t an option.

Resistance’s only one aim is to stop you from doing your work and a rationalization around not being able to afford it is one that I have seen be very effective in stopping people from doing their soul’s work.

Procrastination

“Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize.”

This is how resistance shows up for me personally. It’s not that I’m not going to write the content for my new program. I am going to do it; I’m just going to do it later. The problem is that if I’m not careful later will never come.

I know I’m not alone in putting things off until later. But if you keep putting off the things you want to do until later, you run the risk of never doing them.

There’s always going to be a reason why you can’t do what you know your soul wants to do. And if you don’t get started (even if you don’t feel ready) you just might end up on your deathbed wondering where your life went and wishing you had done things differently.

Win the War

“The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolutions, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.“

Over the last few months, I have seen resistance stop several very talented and gifted women from pursuing their soul’s desire.

I agree with Steven Pressfield that we are in a war to ensure that the unique and priceless gift we have to give is fully expressed in our lifetime. We cannot afford to let Resistance stop us.

There may be a time or two that Resistance wins but it is imperative that it not win the war. You have to do your work because we need what you have to offer more than you may realize.

Here’s to you winning the war and rising into your greatness!

From my heart to yours,

P.S: If you now realize that Resistance has been holding you back and you’re DONE letting it win, let’s talk. Schedule a complimentary call with me to discuss how working with me can support you in doing your work.