When you read this post, I’ll be on vacation. Somewhere far, far away, where Internet access is something of a miracle. And that’s the only reason I can make this confession.
Gulp. Here goes:
Resistance! I have it.
Some background. I’ve always thought of myself as a painter. I was either 10 or 11 when I stretched my first canvas, but even before then I knew that painting was what I had to do.
And I still know this. But I’m Not Doing It.
Until now, my usual reaction to this has been to ask myself “but whyyyy not?” in a whiny voice (well, whiny in my head). Why am I not doing it? Why is it so hard? What’s wrong with me, or what is keeping me from doing this?
I will come up with a million reasons, chief among them “lack of space.” While this may be true, a tiny and incredibly annoying voice inside me asks, “Are you sure that’s the reason?” And I kind of want to smack it.
Obviously, this strategy of asking “whyyyy?” has not worked very well at all.
But in the past year or so I’ve come into contact with a bunch of smart people. And they’ve given me ideas and suggestions on how to deal with this not-doing. I’ve taken a lot of them to heart. For example, this blog wouldn’t be here without the help of those people (hey guys, thanks!).
And yet… the painting, it is not happening.
I’ve been working on a genius plan, though. So when I am back and duly refreshed from my wanderings, I am going to start a new experiment to play with this resistance.
And I’ve been thinking that maybe some of you might have a similar problem. We could do this little experiment together.
I’ll reveal the details soon. In the meantime, I’ll give you one hopefully reassuring hint: this experiment will not require any big lifestyle changes. At all. In fact, it all sounds absurdly easy.
It’s based on a pretty radical idea, but it does not require radical changes. Because those just lead to more resistance.
Huh, I should know.
For now, all I’d like to know is: are you resisting some particular kind of creative expression? What is it?
COMMENTS: Which – if any – of your creative projects are you resisting?
Not everyone is keen on coming out about their creative resistance on the Internets. So if you don’t want to share, that’s perfectly understandable. But I’ll post more info on my experiment soon, and you are absolutely invited to join me, in any way you please.
It would be easier and faster to list what I am *not* resisting! The resistance isn’t affecting everything equally all the time, but there’s still more of it than I’d like there to be. I’m looking forward to knowing more about your experiment, and most probably to experimenting with you: a new *and* absurdly easy technique to help play around the resistance sounds too good to pass up on!
Oh Josiane! You likely won’t see this reply because it’s been nearly a week. All I can say is: I am so happy to have the Internet again. (Hugging computer)
and it’s a good reminder that may of us go through the same sort of issues.
I’m both sorry and not sorry that you have resistance too! Because it’s nice to have some company when you’re resisting things
Update: I’m working on putting together a wee plan to help people get out of their creative resistance. And it’s going to be insanely easy. Because right now I’m helping myself out of my own resistance using this stuff, and believe me, if it’s not insanely easy I won’t do it. More info will be coming along this week!