my resistance
“Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.” — Steven Pressfield, The War of Art.
Creativity sets motion. Motion to write, draw, act, create. Just like any other force in the universe, it has its counterpart — the opposing energy, known by Pressfield readers as resistance. The force of resistance pushes back on creations regardless of the creator. Similar to gravity, resistance is always there — impersonal and vigilant.
In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield goes deep into exploring all forms resistance can take, from procrastination to perfectionism and everything in between. I don’t plan on butchering his work, so, from one creative person to another, read his book.
This is an exploration of how resistance plays a role in my creative life, and maybe in yours too. As a kid, I was always writing, drawing, making movies, and entertaining at a friends & family rate. It faded away. Creativity became background noise. Dormant. It was still there, but not in the driver’s seat.
The clock ticks faster after every New Year’s Eve countdown and birthday celebration. Creativity is calling shotgun. Desperate to take the wheel and create. She wants to draw outside the lines, paint outside the canvas, write between the lines, and get off the main road to explore the wilderness. Until resistance screams, Get back on the freaking road, you are going to kill us all! Don’t use Comic Sans!
Before every word I type, my resistance comes in, whispering, Are you sure about these words? As I write them, she screams in my brain at the top of her non-existent lungs, Boring! Why bother writing this? Just take your phone and scroll through Instagram. It will feel much better.
My resistance plays on my fears, repeatedly, like a broken record. Even as I write this, it says, Are you really going to share this? THIS? Yawn. Creativity does reply from time to time. Yes, we will publish THIS. Who knows, maybe others feel the same way. It’s all in my head. Really.
The fear of putting something out there that’s not good enough is nothing new. Artists have always dealt with them. Many struggled to finish what they started for that reason. DaVinci would get paid for stuff and never deliver*. His Etsy shop wouldn’t have survived this era of reviews and instant feedback.
Artists want to put out masterpieces ONLY. My resistance is going crazy here Who the hell do you think you are to ever come close to creating a masterpiece? She’s rude. The thing is she doesn’t know what masterpieces are. Most of the time, neither do I. She was probably saying the same thing to Van Gogh. The market decides. In the case of some artists, it took the market way too long to give them any credit.
Seth Godin will never know, but he practically made me write this. He blogged about bringing your work to the market, “Do your best. Then ship.”
Resistance’s power is in creativity’s expectations — the difference between saying doodling, sketching, and drawing. Doodles, I could do all day. Drawing, not so much.
Sorry, was checking my Instagram.
Resistance loses when the work is more important than the final product — process over results and rewards. Easier said than done in the instant gratification age. It takes practice. And patience. And discipline.
The voice of La Resistance, muffled but still within reach, hisses in the background, Bitch, why bother? Turn on Netflix already. You haven’t rewatched all the season of Rupaul’s Drag Race yet.
There’s something to be said about unfinished projects. I don’t know what that is yet so this might be a topic to revisit. Or not. For most, unfinished projects represent failure in the face of the Never Give Up bumper stickers. But, for others, they mean potential. If it’s not done yet, it can get better (even if it’s a train wreck right now). It’s an excellent way of doing things halfway — something I consider myself an expert.
What if instead, I tell resistance, Girl, it is what it is. If it’s boring, so be it. If it’s horrible, then we’ll do better next time. Right now, it’s time to ship it. I did my best for the moment. Tomorrow could have been a different story, but tomorrow is nothing but a figment of our collective imagination.
*Remember to fact-check later. Probably not going to.
Today is a great day to hit publish. Unlike McDreamy in Grey’s, making a mistake won’t cost the lives of the TV extras and guest stars.
Clap if this has had absolutely no impact on your life whatsoever, but still, you already read it and can’t take it back. But also clap if something resonates with you. Better yet, leave a comment, if your resistance allows.
