Our diva tossed the book she was reading down to the other end of her couch. She padded her way to the kitchen to check on the food in the oven. She was happy to have a night in. She had been feeling a bit overwhelmed with her schedule recently. She knew that something was going to have to give. Her boss at her day job had recently floated the idea that she put herself forward for an upcoming promotion. That felt good but she also knew that she didn’t want it. Conversely, in her social life was becoming more involved since she had committed to networking more thoughtfully in the last year. Finally, her heart was still being called to explore more fully her artistic integrity.
She felt excited about the future. Isn’t it funny how excited about the future also tends to feel like nervousness? She was becoming more and more comfortable with a low-grade, ever-present feeling of nervousness. She knew that she was reaching for something more than she had ever allowed herself to want before. As she wandered back, she took in the delicious scent coming from the kitchen and smiled as she picked her book back up and flipped to her bookmark about three-quarters of the way through.
The Day 29 challenge on your journey is to outsmart how resistance would like your story to end.
Steven Pressfield’s words jumped off the page of the book The War of Art. This book was giving our diva a boost of energy and tenacity. She knew that her journey was just beginning in regards to her artistic integrity. She didn’t want her story to end after just discovering her desire for more. She knew that she wanted a long and involved story. She had started brainstorming ways to remind herself to keep “going back in.” In fact, she added a recurring calendar appointment in her phone that simply read “embark relentlessly.”
Our diva committed to that brainstorming session because she knew that resistance, as friend to diva’s everywhere Steven Pressfield wrote it, would never ease off. She flipped the pages to re-read the quote,
Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance.
Noticing Resistance In Your Singing Life
That was exactly it! When she had noticed originally, “I don’t have any artistic integrity!” and bemoaned, “I thought I had been doing it right!”, she realized that she was just trying to avoid the fear. She wanted a guarantee that it would always work out before she tried anything. It would be less scary that way, or so she thought. Resistance was a tricky force that way.
Flipping the pages again, her vision gravitated toward one more passage,
Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second we can turn the tables on Resistance.
This second, we can sit down and do our work.
Embark Relentlessly
She looked up and away from the book and gazed around her apartment. Her mind drifted to the happenings over the last year and had a brief epiphany about how she had been battling resistance and only now realized it. This was going to help her recognize and note it as she recommitted to her intention to “embark relentlessly.”
Quickly coming back to the present moment, she realized that her food was needing her attention again. She made a mental note to include “better cooking skills” as part of her plans in the next year. Off she went to the kitchen…
