I could begin by trying to explain why it has been so long since I have compiled an entry for the 9x Blog, but this whole entry will cover why; at best, all I can do is apologise for my procrastination, my avoidance of the work, my succumbing to resistance…

That’s right, as the name says on the tin, this piece is regarding resistance. I began writing this at 03:00am on 05/05/19, I had been sat here over the past 4 hours or so telling myself “I’m going to start, I really should start writing, I’ll start in a minute” and a whole host of other bullshit terms, all the while procrastinating and watching the seconds of the clock elude me. The reality is that a version of this process has been unfolding for days and even weeks since my last publication; for every one of those days, resistance has been running up the scorecard on me, but here, and now, I take the power back!

You might be wondering, “what is resistance?” I am referring to ‘resistance’ in the same vein as Steven Pressfield did in his wonderful work, which I implore all creative types to read, ‘The War of Art’, whereby, when you are not: doing your work, keying in the words, carrying out the tasks, putting pen to paper; essentially, the avoidance of our duty can be characterised by this force called resistance, and we have all, at one point or another, had our asses kicked by it.

It is interesting, because by referring to the phenomena as a ‘force’, it would imply that this is something which is ‘out to get you’ (for lack thereof a better term), and in many ways, one could argue that by acknowledging and edifying its existence, we by proxy, offer a ready-made built in excuse to shy away from our personal responsibility of doing the work; after all, how many of you know someone that would almost instantly and predictably state: “I would have done it, had It not been for resistance!” But if I was to apply my own take, I would say that resistance comes as a result of not doing the work…

We all have our personal duty and obligation to our future, our greatness that we complete our responsibilities. As much as I am talking about our responsibilities in the literal sense: waking up, your job, your errands etc, I am also speaking in terms of your passion also. For me, as you all know, I am passionate about exercise, my health, my business, my creative pursuits, my desire to travel and adventure; and as far as I am concerned, your passions become your responsibilities to attain also, and when we neglect our responsibilities, we create the space and invite resistance to come into our midst, and for every opportunity that we neglect in doing our work, we fortify the presence and nourish the vitality of this undesirable and insidious foe. Left long enough, it will make itself home in your being, and leave its finger prints on all creations of your work.

When I think about why it has taken me some near 2 months between posts, I must hold myself accountable, I defied my own basic tenants and principles and allowed the self-defeating notion of “I’m a fraud”, “No one is going to read this”, “who cares what I have to say anyway?”, to enable laziness, give life to procrastination (oh, the paradox) and become mired in the fog that resistance can leave you shrouded within. As someone who is routinely espousing the ideals of being proactive, becoming “your best self”, doing the work, and deriving satisfaction from ones journey during the process, it is quite embarrassing to have to confront this about myself, however, I do gain solace from being able to honestly convey this struggle with you, and more importantly the step taken to begin my fight back against my own travails.

The step most crucially, was that which Mr Pressifeld advocates and it’s very simple: JUST START THE DAMN WORK! There is no other antidote in combatting the force of resistance, there is a reason that its entire being predicates itself on stopping you making that one crucial action, because it’s through rolling the sleeves and getting to work, and simply starting that this seemingly unstoppable force begins to capitulate, or better yet, is strictly deterred from even trying to destabilise your equilibrium! Just like when we put any task off, we feel a certain angst, a certain unease; that is your duty to act calling you to arms; most of us however, relent to the snooze button; a gratification of the instant kind, that we ironically instantly regret once it has had its way with us.

While I am far from a corporate, or even a commercial person; Nike may have in fact coined the single greatest slogan with respect to defying resistance, and that is: ‘Just Do It’, because it really is as simple as that! The act of starting, the act of doing, is one of the most powerful and sovereign things a human being has at their immediate disposal, it is one of the very few things that we have total freedom over; our choice whether to start or not to start, to do or not to do, a truly powerful and liberating sentiment, especially in a world where more and more of our freewill is being anaesthetised and more of choices are being made for us. More so than the outcome of our actions, the result of the work, is the act of doing; after all, we cannot control the outcome, we can however control our choice to execute and produce, or conversely be consumed and stagnant. Nothing can be achieved without starting or acting upon the impulse to start the great work.

Even as I continue to pen this, I find myself actually CREATING DISTRACTION! This links into another phenomena, the other reason why we procrastinate, the corpse from which resistance gets its sustenance from; the fact that simply put, we’re lazy, and the latter option, i.e. not doing a damn thing, is the easy way out. Of course it’s easier to do fuck all, it’s the most easiest to not blow the dust off the mic, blow the dust off the keyboard, blow the dust off the pen and the paper; but with our choice to do nothing, we resign ourselves to a life of angst and regret, and then we wonder why we afflict our children, partners and protégé’s with trying to live vicariously through them, as it to try and atone for the time we spent not doing our passion, or duty.

I realise at this stage of the publication, I am kinda rambling on, but it’s also fun to explore the unwinding avenues of the creative process! In closing, I hope that in reading this piece, you can firstly, now attach a name to this once illusive adversary called resistance as you draw some familiarity from times of your own where resistance has beaten you, but more importantly, in seeing this completed article, you will see how you can in fact defy your writers-block, your procrastination, your own war with resistance, and that as I have pontificated earlier, comes simply from starting! Doing! Being! Furthermore, even if you are losing the battle, for as long as you have another breath, another second, another day, you always have the platform to turn the tide and get going! Whatever you feel the most resistance from, is likely the task you should be undertaking, for your calling awaits…

In closing, I would like to quote a section from the aforementioned War of Art regarding completion, as resistance manifests in the form of an uncompleted task, and don’t we have enough of those skeletons in the closet!

“The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight. At this point, Resistance knows we’re about to beat it. It hits the panic button. It marshals one last assault and slams us with everything it’s got.”

In completing this essay, I win against resistance today, however, the war goes on…

Good-day, and God bless you all;

Steven

#RONIN #RoninStateOfMind #OSU #Aragami