So, how do you really want to live?

“Live the life you’ve imagined.” (Henry David Thoreau)

Call it writer’s block (or painter’s block, or musician’s block, or entrepreneur’s block, or whatever-other-endeavor-you-want-to-undertake block) – it really doesn’t matter what you call it, who you are, or how you try to resist it. Resistance happens. And with alarming frequency, especially at the beginning (but more ferociously at the end) of a project.

I’m not sure exactly why this is. Perhaps it’s just human nature, in our genes, the horrible part of us that just (darn it) wants to stay on the couch binge watching Netflix and curling up with a bag of Doritos instead of working on our manuscript or writing our business plan.

Or maybe it’s fear. Fear of the unknown, of the difficult. Fear of failing. Or of succeeding, and having to change our entire mindset about who we are. (Which is silly, because I believe that we all actually know who we are – that is, who we really are and really are meant to be – even if we aren’t living it at the present moment). Certainly, fear feeds resistance. Fear is Resistance’s own personal bag of Doritos, I suspect.

Resistance can take many forms, some of which seem like truly important things that we have to do, and not at all akin to Dorito-chomping-binge-watching-couch-time. Meals do have to be cooked. The car does need to be taken to the shop. We really do get sick. There are deadlines that we have to meet, and people in our lives need us to do for them. So of course we have no time to get to the gym. And we have excellent reasons why we cannot get to the gym. Resistance loves this. Because it’s thrown up a barrier that we cannot possibly argue against. In fact, we go ahead and join Resistance’s side. Talking ourselves right out of what we want to do, who we want to be, because of all-these-other-really-important-things.

But the truth is that if going to the gym is what you want to do, then that’s what you should do. Fill your jar (your life) with the important things first, and the rest will either fit in or you will realize that it’s maybe not vital to living your best life that you plan out menus for the next seven hundred days and take two hours to make dinner every night. (Unless that’s your thing, then hey – have at it).

Live the life you want to live.

But one thing you can’t do, if you ever hope to get past Resistance and get on with living your best life, is fight it. Resistance happens, and it’s a formidable opponent. You will never defeat it. It will continue to pester you and try to derail you forever. It just does not quit. Ever. To which I say – fine. Go ahead and put up the barriers, throw the obstacles in my path, fill my mind with excuses galore. I’m not going to fight it.

But I am going to ignore it.

I am going to show up every day and do that thing that I know I need to do, want to do, have to do in order to be fully authentic, and fully myself. If I feel like it, I’m going to do it. If I don’t feel like it, I’m going to do it. If I get a flat tire and have to take a detour to the garage for a plug, I’ll take care of the tire and then get back to work. If the work goes well, if it goes bad, if it flows easily or if it trickles slowly, I’m going to do it. I may struggle through every minute of the workout, but here’s the thing: I’m still going to do it.

Because at the end of the day, it’s how I want to live.

~xo,
LuAnne