Resistance is Futile“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage”
– Anais Nin
Like many people, I have a mission, and one thing that I have discovered is that it ain’t easy to have a mission. A mission can be anything that stretches your mind and /or stretches your soul. My mission has been to build a successful business as a writer, speaker, poet, and life coach. I have become my own one-woman show, but it is not an easy task.
They say that when you embark on a mission, or make a solid decision to do something that is beyond your comfort zone, the first thing you will do is resist. As you enter into the “discomfort zone” you slip into resistance. During this phase you will hear yourself saying things like:
* “I don’t have time to do this. ”
* “Maybe this isn’t my thing.”
* “ Perhaps I chose wrong.”
* “Can we have sex again?” (escapism, so that you can let your brain take a mini-vacation.)
* “Waiting tables wasn’t so bad.”
* “You know bartenders make good money.”
* “I think that ice cream is a food group.”
* “I can always go back to teaching.”
I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with waiting tables or being a bartender. I have been both, but it did not stretch me in the ways I needed to be stretched.
It was Marrianne Williamson that said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” So of course we resist. We resist being all that we can be, because rising to that kind of potential can be scary.
And I’m not just talking about career potential. How many people do you know that are in relationships with a partner that is obviously just a “safe bet?” Meaning that one person shot their expectations low in order to be secure? I know a number of women that go after men/boys that are not of their caliber, which then holds them back from their own greatness because they do not feel worthy enough to find someone that might be their dream come true. As a society, we are so afraid of reaching our potential for fear of losing something or failing at something, and so we shoot low hoping that at least we walk away with a small prize because we don’t think we can reach or deserve the grand prize.
We think we’re afraid of failure, but the truth is that all successful people fail. They just recover faster and keep going.
“Races are not won by the fastest athletes. Fights are not won by the strongest men. But the races are won and the fights are won by those who want to win most of all.” – Tommy Lasorda
Resistance is our way of shrinking back into our caves. They say that there is a lot of tension when you embark on a journey or mission, and the tension builds slowly until the most tension is felt right before the biggest breakthrough. The problem is that most people give up at 11:59 when they should have held on until 12:00.
I’m writing to you today to say hold on tight. Enjoy the ride. Make it bumpy. Fall down a few times, and then, when your ready, fly.
Dawn "ZigZag" Montefusco is a writer, speaker, poet, and life coach. She specializes in coaching overachievers that have already achieved success in their life but want a life coach because they are wondering why they aren't enjoying their success more, want to support their next project, or have another area of their life that hasn't been as successful. She is also a writing coach. With a background in public relations, marketing, teaching, and creative writing, she produces fulfilling results in her clients’ personal and professional lives. She has a coaching site at http://www.coachzigzag.com and a writers site at http://www.mszigzag.com