I just finished The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It’s any easy read, no more than a hour to get through — but I’m sure that I will re-read it many more times. The subtitle is “Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles” – a large portion focuses on defeating Resistance, that thing that keeps us from what we are called to do.

Resistance is like the Alien or the Terminator or the shark in Jaws. It cannot be reasoned with. It understands nothing but power. It is an engine of destruction, programmed…to prevent us from doing our work.

I like the idea of Resistance as a Thing that is totally impersonal – not a personal failing, not a lack of will or ability, just something that exists. And something that happens to everyone. It’s easier to deal with something that is outside of you.

Resistance takes many forms, but the one that interests me most at the moment is Healing: the idea that we must get our shit together before we can do anything. Resistance loves Healing – all the workshops, the self-reflection, the spa treatments, the inspirational jewelry that we MUST get or do before we are Just Right and Ready to Begin. It is a form of active procrastination that distracts us from actually doing our work – and all the while we think we are taking totally necessary steps to the starting point. I think it is probably one of the sneakiest forms of Resistance because who wants to tell somebody that all their introspection is pointless and possibly even detrimental?

Resistance loves “healing.” Resistance knows that the more psychic energy we expend dredging and re-dredging the tired, boring injustices of our personal lives, the less juice we have to do our work.

I am guilty of this in a big way. Combing over your own imperfections can be perversely satisfying – look at how many, woe is me, nobody has it as bad as I do – and, of course – it’s not my fault I can’t start [whatever], look at all the shit I have to get together first! My chakras are not even aligned! It is the ultimate excuse. I use it all the time. Probably even every day!

It’s important to just start. I’m not saying we can’t take a moment to sit back and reflect; healing – real healing – is important. But there is a difference between necessary self-repair and using preparatory exercises as an excuse for the actual work (and it is work – Pressfield touches on this, and I will come back to that another time). Don’t get stuck in the Pre-Stage; there is really nothing stopping you. You will never have your shit together. Ever. So just go.

There are many other ideas in the book that interest me but I will return to them – I just wanted to stick to one to start. Because I needed to start! (see what I did there??)