Why Resistance Is A Dream Killer

It’s that time of the year again, when the weather is getting warmer, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and your summer clothes aren’t fitting like they used to.

After trying on some of my dresses this week I have wondered why no one sent me the ‘summer bodies are made in winter’ memo. But that’s not a new thing. The same thought enters my mind at this time, every, single, year. I look down at my see-through legs, and think why did I not start running a few months ago? Those legs would look a lot different right now if I did.

I’ve been a runner in my mind for a while now, and have wanted to physically start running for a long time. Like for decades.

But still haven’t got around to it.

Yes I could blame the recent cold and stormy weather. I’ve also been very busy with my work, so I haven’t had any spare time. Let’s blame that. I also take my kids to their sport and music practice most days after school, so let’s blame them. I could also blame the fact that I don’t have a running buddy.

Come to think of it I did break my ankle a couple of years ago, and that got in the way of running back then. I also have a memory of getting a stitch in my stomach every time I competed in cross-country back in high school. The memory of that is to blame as well.

I put my back out on Monday, so that’s why I’m not running this week.

Whatever is to blame for my conscious decision to not run, it’s never really because of those external reasons I tell myself.

Author, Steven Pressfield, would call this internal stopper, ‘resistance’. We all have it, and it gets in the way of anything that would make our personal self and our life a whole lot better. In fact, it is such a dream killer that he has written a book or two about it, describing resistance as “… a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.”

Resistance makes you procrastinate. It makes you instantly gratify. It makes you play safe and stay in your comfort zone.

It keeps it easy.

But it stops you doing what you really want to do. It stops you from being who you want to be.