Resistance. So, I've been reading The War of Art, and yes, I wrote it correctly. The main point of the book is that there is a force acting against our best intentions that keeps us from achieving our greatness. These barriers to success are usually some variation of rationalization and can best be visualized with the stereotypical frayed hair and twitchy fingers of "writer's block". These are what keep us in bed instead of going for a run. These are the reasons we don't firmly stick out a hand to our heroes and introduce ourselves. And frankly, these are the reasons that Chiropractors never have a community that understands what they do.
I am a big fan of knowing your enemy. Resistance is my enemy. It, for me, is the "Don't go to that event, you're so tired." or "Life is hard right now, go watch netflix."We combat resistance by doing what we are afraid to do or what would make us less comfortable. Why are you not getting out of bed to go on that run? What about 30 minutes of sleep (let's be real, facebook), is better than running around the block?
I'm going to touch a very sensitive subject; one that I have rolled my eyes over for literally decades now. Have you ever known someone with an ok job, or a crappy job and one day that person tells you they are going on a crazy trip to Indonesia? Or that same person comes up to tell you they are going to Europe for a month? And immediately, you think something like, "Where did they get the money to do that?" We must delegate what we value; time and money are easily the most valuable things to most people. Ironically, those two things seem pretty inversely proportional but at the end of the day those two things are what make the world go 'round. So, many situations leave us exchanging money for time, or time for money. And that is the balance right? That's simply how it works. If you know how to get me more of both of these things, PLEASE do not hesitate to contact me :). However, what we need to squash right now is that you don't have time and you don't have money. Neither of those is true. If my super young, super optimistic, go get 'em friend can work a part time job waiting tables for 10 months and then take a month long trip to India, we all need to think about our "resistance" or our "values".
I implore you to stop saying that! On the other hand, saying "I don't value it" is one of the most powerful things you could ever say. This says to people "I value my time and my money more than I value what you are offering me." And THAT is a game changer because it is a) the truth b) not propagating negative thoughts into the universe c) giving the presenter the opportunity to hear, "hey, what you just said, doesn't make me care any more about what you are doing. So... change it up. Come back later. Make me want it more," How useful is that? My entrepreneurial spirit is swooning at that type of constructive criticism.
Now, let's tie it all together. I made the photos above, but I certainly didn't write them. Some of you may know that, some of you may have never heard of them before. This weekend I turned 30 years old, and on Saturday morning I attended a women's conference. Fact: moms don't do women's conferences. It's like they're busy or something? :) This conference rubbed me the wrong way. It was offensive, and kinda sorta in conflict with some major teachings of the organization, all that to be said, this was the blessing at the beginning of the meeting. I didn't want to go to this conference, and after I went I wasn't any more pleased but I defied resistance by attending. These commandments, another version of which hung at Mother Theresa's clinic in Calcutta, are my favorite thing. I think they are God, or the Universe's way of saying "Keep going."
Despite my love of Star Trek, especially Jean Luc Picard (swoon again), resistance isn't futile. Maybe my fist-to-cuffs opposition of resistance is saying through gritted teeth, "Resistance! You are futile"... but really it serves a purpose. It is there to let us know that when we feel most resistant that is when we are meant to push back harder.
So don't tell people you don't have time. Don't tell them that you don't have the money. You do. If you wanted to, you could. There are a million ways to scrape time and cash together. Tell them flat out that you don't value what they have. Be mindful to the resistance; do you not value it? Or are you afraid that it might actually make you a better person?
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