The Real Source of Resistance

I'm a big fan of Steven Pressfield. The War of Art continues to make an indelible mark on my own creative journey. I've recommended that little book to countless people over the years.

But I disagree with him on one key point.

In The War of Art Pressfield deftly and relentlessly exposes the innumerable ways we sabotage ourselves. He lumps these strategies under one term—Resistance. These are the everyday shenanigans we employ to avoid showing up as the authentic individuals we were made to be.

So true.

He challenges the reader to flush Resistance from its hiding, and that Resistance does its best work incognito. From the safety of shadows it weaves and whispers its lies about our lack of competency and worth. And we believe it.

Preach it, Steve!

He's absolutely right when he says that "Everyone hears that same voice". Self deprecation is woven into the fabric of every human soul. In fact, it's so integrated into being human that we can't amputate this voice if we want to.

Yep.

He says, "That negative, self-sabotaging voice you hear in your head is not you. Those thoughts are not yours. They are Resistance. Everyone hears that same voice."

Nope. This is where I part ways with Pressfield.

Those negative voices I hear are me. All of the naysaying, sabotaging, self-destructive deceptions have one source: the guy in the mirror—and I divorce myself from these voices at my own peril.

Here’s why.

How do you respond when someone tells you that you don't have a voice in a conversation? Chances are you don’t take too kindly to it. You want to make your voice heard even more. Right? Why would Resistance respond any differently?

The surest way to increase Resistance is to disown it. Every effort I’ve made to distance myself from these voices makes things worse.

What’s the alternative?

I need to draw nearer to these voices not distance myself from them. I need to own them. But that doesn’t mean I have to believe them or be afraid of them.

The voices of Resistance may be my adversaries, but the relationship doesn’t need to be adversarial.

You and I are not so fragile that we can't sit and listen to these voices spout their nonsense for a few minutes. The voices are wrong. Dead wrong. They're utterly delusional. But you can still befriend them. After all, the voices are part of you.

Just don't believe them.