Newton’s first law states: “A body continues to maintain its state of rest or of uniform motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force.”
The same can be said for people. We try to stay in the comfortable, safe spot, and anything that seeks to move us from that position is viewed with suspicion.
And yet…we want to create. Stories, poetry, song, software…all manner of creative pursuits. We crave the thrill, the rush of being in the flow, swimming along with the current and seeing where it will take us.
We love it, but we fear its power.
Inspiration is an unbalanced force. It whisper, sings, shouts at us to move in a particular direction, write a certain thing down. And yet…we resist.
Why? Comfort? Fear? Guilt? All of the above?
Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, sums it in a single word: Resistance.
Have you ever brought home a treadmill and let it gather dust in the attic? Ever resolved on a diet, a course of yoga, a meditation practice? Have you ever felt a call to embark upon a spiritual practice, dedicate yourself to a humanitarian calling, commit your life to the service of others? Have you ever wanted to be a mother, a doctor, an advocate for the weak and helpless; to run for office, crusade for the planet, campaign for world peace or to preserve the environment? Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.
Resistance is the shadow, the Dweller on the Threshold who challenges you to a duel. It will always be there, and the more you need to do something, the stronger the Shadow will be. Ironically, that’s a good thing…it shows you what you need to do the most. The more it scares you, the more you need to challenge it.
It doesn’t matter what you do…writing code, playing music, painting. The unbalanced force of Inspiration will give you the push you need, but you’re the one that needs to stand before Resistance, challenge it, and ultimately, cause it to yield before your might. It will mock you, taunt you, reason with you, and do anything it can to divert you.
DO THE WORK YOU ARE CALLED TO DO.
Push onward.
Charge!
I have a bad habit of overcommitting myself. No…wait…that’s not quite right. I have a bad habit of committing myself and then mismanaging my time. It’s a character flaw, and one that I’m working to correct. However…one of the inevitable consequences of my time mismanagement is that, sooner or later, I begin to feel as though I am being pecked to death by ducks. Everything piles up, and all I want to do it run and hide until it goes away.
