Hello, Resistance! My old friend.

We resist the resistance

Oh, there you are! I was missing you!

What is it about doing something consistently, shifting to making something a habit, that causes us such resistance?

We brush our teeth regularly, put pants on before we walk out the door, don’t think twice about drinking water or taking pills, belting out show tunes at the top of my lungs every morning - all that required creating a habit.

So what is it about exercise or journaling or creating a gratitude practice or meditation every day that causes us such resistance? Or eating nutritious and delicious food?

On Jan 1 I started a movement practice to intentionally up my game on some form of exercise every day. I love the way I feel afterward. I feel accomplished, confident, grateful, energized, strengthened, proud, happy. And yet, sometimes I really have to push myself to get it in - even when it’s on my calendar. It feels a bit like Stutz’s cycle of life tool where we reach a higher point, then dip down, then push back up a bit higher to climb - I know how good I will feel when I am done - it carries with me for hours afterward, and yet it requires convincing, cajoling, encouraging AND sometimes criticism.

That doesn’t feel good to criticize myself - at all. It ’s loud and obnoxious. It pulls me out of my grateful brain and into my old patterns.

I find this too with food/preparation/planning and shopping. Fitting things into a busy schedule. Prioritizing me. I’m grateful that I’m perfectly content with opening a can of beans, zapping some frozen veggies, grabbing an apple, slicing an avocado and calling it good.

There are many times I’m so grateful for the preparation in advance, for the time taken to batch cook something.

It’s a gift that keeps on giving.

As is the yoga or any kind of movement. I do think the longer we push forward, continuing to keep doing it, even if we skip a day or two, the more it becomes engrained. I know when I miss brushing my teeth I'm self-conscious all day. I know that now that I’ve been working on this yoga thing for 60 days, I’m finding the resistance can be enjoyed.

I can laugh at it a bit and say, “yeah, I hear ya, honey. But we will feel so good when we are done. We might even enjoy it in the moment! Those stretches and twists really feel good after a long sleep. We got this”

After 6 years of working on my food and adjusting as SWCC (Shit we can’t control) lines up and shoots it’s weapons at me, I appreciate my ability to hop and weave a bit more,  to duck and dodge the bullets in more entertaining ways.

I appreciate my ability to lighten up a bit and smile when that resistance part shows up. I know it means I get to take a bit more time to listen, laugh a bit more, smile at the absurdity that at almost 64 I still try to resist that which is obviously so good for me.

Can I learn to welcome the resistance? Maybe it’s like pain - it only works if I resist it?

I think it’s time I shout “Lighten up!!” Maybe I’m supposed to enjoy that life is still giving me obstacles to keep me pushing forward.

Maybe I’m supposed to say, “Oh, there you are! I’ve missed you!”

So take a moment to pay attention to what you are resistant to.  Jot it down, feel what's behind it, and decide if you can embrace it? Shift it? Laugh at it?