Win the Fight Against Your Own Resistance

Cover photo: Darinka Kievskaya on Unsplash

As early as 6 a.m. your smartphone blurts its alarm following your instruction: it’s time to work out. But your feet and hands are numb, with the mercury nudging zero.

Snooze is the enticing option since you hope that if you continue a little longer in bed, the cold will vanish, and you should be ready to get up. However, a ‘bit more’ ended up being two hours. Thus, you neither left your pit nor trained.  

Most people have two lives: the one they live and the unlived one inside them – which is teemed with wishes and desires. 

At some stage, normally in bleak moments, you receive a cry from your higher-self demanding a fresh direction, to open the gates of a brave new world – the land of milk and honey, so to speak. 

In that split second, you realise you are between two waters: 

• An alternative path where your dreams come true and your desires can be fulfilled. 
• Or the same parched earth you are now, where the air is heavy, and frustration, bitterness, and misery are the order of the day. 

An inner flame ignites at the flick of a switch, giving you the enthusiasm to change forthwith – your motivation spark sets alight. But that wake-up call doesn’t last too long – that blaze extinguishes rapidly. 

Demotivated, you go back to your common practices, pledging allegiance to your apathy, laziness, submission, and procrastination. 

If indeed, with the other direction, you climb the ladder of success, why you choose the submissive state? How is it possible? You don’t pick up the call given that, deep down, you know such a request represents a hard task and entails a great deal of work and responsibility and sweat and blood and tears. 

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but just a few are willing to die. 

You crave the sweetness of the fruit, the confidence to attain your goals, plus the courage to embark on a new adventure but you don’t commit to the discipline, not to mention the effort needed to take the grapes from the vine.  

Ambition is what you need. An unquenchable appetite; a desire to win. 

You won’t achieve anything if you are on your couch. Unless you start moving, what you will have is a life with restrictions, frustrations, sadness, and barely enough to get by. Not pursuing your own desires and ambitions is a betrayal, not only for yourself but also for those you claim you care about. 

Today’s Focus of Attention is reader-supported. We sometimes include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission.

The Destructive Pressure Against You

A strong force – dragging you down to the abyss and hindering you from keeping afloat – stands between the life you have and the one you yearn for. This force is the toxic and powerful Resistance. 

The more you want something, the stronger the resistance, thus the pain. 

It manifests in many shapes, from laziness and dejection to anxiety and procrastination. Assuming you learn not to control it, a mediocre existence awaits you.

But… How to fight the enemy inside? 

First and Foremost, Know Your Adversary

“If you know the enemy and you know yourself, in 100 battles there’s no danger. If you know yourself but not the enemy, it is one victory for one loss. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Sun Tzu – The Art of War

By identifying what you’re fighting against, you can figure out how to defeat it. 

You should not pretend your own resistance doesn’t exist. On the contrary, you must analyse its weaknesses, strengths, peculiarities, voice, shape, and face, thereby deploying your army to march against it. 

To shrewdly overcome resistance, you’ve got to understand it.  

Isaac Newton’s Third Law 

According to this law, when two bodies interact, they apply forces to one another that are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. 

Simply stated, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. You push on a wall and the wall pushes back. To illustrate this point, lifting 20 kilos creates an equivalent resistance. 

So, what’s the suggestion? Reduce the force of the action, therefore, the reaction will plummet. 

Instead of undertaking an hour-long exercise routine, at first offer yourself ‘just ten minutes.’ Afterwards, increase in tiny steps until one hour becomes the bare minimum. 

Writing a lengthy business report is daunting. At the outset, mislead your resistance by typing word by word. Then sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph. 

“One more minute, an additional round, an extra set, this is the last sentence,’ is what you can say to fool your own reluctancy, which will not fight you for merely ‘one bit of anything.”

To have a baby eat vegetables, you play games. “Another bite…” you say. “Here comes the plane…” It’s nothing but just being smart. 

Resistance will always be there, undeniably. Just learn how to get along and deal with this black sheep of your traits; this undesirable cousin. 

But be Careful; Resistance Camouflages Itself

A reason this opposing force is hard to combat is in part because of its capacity to disguise itself. 

And one of those costumes is the projection onto people and situations, making you blame others for your suffering. For instance, you might believe you are a victim of society, family, or circumstances.  

On top of that, resistance cloaks behind fear, attacking not simply what poses a threat to you. You cringe in terror, even in front of your highest hopes of growth.

Any change, albeit positive, runs across opposition. 

Do Whatever It Takes

Anything goes when it comes to either reach your goals or steer clear of temptations. 

Let’s take the case of Odysseus, from Greek mythology. In his journey, Odysseus, along with his crew, had to resist the call of the sirens, those beautiful and dangerous creatures who lured unwary sailors with their enchanting melody and bewitching voices. 

To prevent being shipwrecked, Odysseus told his mariners to stick beeswax in their ears and tie him to the mast, resulting in a deaf audience to the chant of the sirens.

He wisely endured temptation. 

If you don’t want to eat sweets, for instance, the first step would be not to buy them at the supermarket. Avoid the temptation by not buying them. 

Road to Victory

Those who you laud for their achievements have likewise encountered the same predicaments you are going through right now. But they persisted, raised their weapons, and opted to attack their own demons.

The difference between the weak and the lionhearted is that the latter doesn’t give way to temptations. By all means, you are in charge of your own happiness and future transformation. 

Success is a decision; a choice you must devote daily, with determination and wit. 

What’s your choice? 

“Victory is not for the wimp, only the brave.”