Resistance Is Futile

Possibly I am getting a little better at ignoring the maddening sense of resistance that inevitably shows up when I think about doing something that is good for me, something that I theoretically want to do, but which is sometimes a little difficult and often very much not fun at the outset.

Like running.

(Confession: “Running” is not the best word for what I do.)

I jog.

Slowly.

My Nike Running App includes a helpful pace chart, and I have to scroll for an hour before I finally find my mile time, right near the end. There are not many paces slower than mine. Maybe one. Which is fine. But it just confirms that I am not speedy.

(But we are going to call what I do “running” for simplicity’s sake).

Running is good for me. I don’t like it much at the beginning, I don’t usually love it in the middle, but I am always happy at the end. And it’s not just because I’ve logged a few miles on my phone. There’s something about being outside and moving through space and being among the trees that makes my heart happy. It’s also good for my heart, at least that’s what my doctor tells me.

I rarely want to do it in the minutes before I lace up my shoes, though.

I can find so many reasons why today is not a good day for a run after all, why tomorrow would be better. I’m tired, it’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s windy, the dog is tired, it might rain, it’s muddy, it’s dry.

This is a reliable occurrence, basically like clockwork. The time for my run arrives, and I do not want to do it.

Lately, though?

I’ve been doing it anyway.

Because I am no longer surprised when the resistance arises.

I’m learning to greet it. Not welcome it, exactly, but not chase it away, either.

It is part of my process.

So I say hello.

“Hello Resistance! Yes, you are right, there are a million other things that would be more pleasant to do right now!”

Then I put on my shoes and run anyway.

Sometimes, Resistance talks back. On those days, I have to trick myself a little.

“Fine! Fine!,” I say to Resistance. “You’re right! Absolutely right! It’s a terrible day to run. So we’ll just go for five minutes. Five minutes is all! And then we can go home again.

But guess what?

By the time I’ve gone five minutes, Resistance has quieted down. She is distracted by a red bird in a tree, or the color of the dogwoods in springtime, or the daffodils which are blooming on the side of the path.

The Nike Running Club App guided runs have also been helpful.

Sometimes, I have skipped runs, not because of Resistance, but because life happened and I didn’t have time to do the run I planned.

Coach Chris Bennett, the Nike Running Club global head coach says the same thing over and over on his guided runs: if you don’t have time to do the run you planned, do the run you can do. He also says (a lot): this is about running. It’s also not about running.

He’s right.

I can apply this advice to other parts of life, too.

I’d like to do lots of writing everyday. Hours and hours! (Or at least thirty minutes.) But sometimes? There is loads of massage work to do (a good thing), and loads of laundry afterwards, or my computer runs out of battery at the worst moment, and I can’t do the writing that I hoped. Which is when Coach Bennett’s words come back to me: If you can’t do the writing you planned, do the writing you can do.

Even if it’s five minutes. Just showing up at the page is enough for the day.

I never want to run, but I want to be a runner. I hardly ever want to write, but writing is my calling. I hate doing morning pushups, but I want to be stronger. The things that I resist take me to the places I want to be.

I am reacting less to my resistance: my running resistance, my writing resistance. I didn’t want to sit down right now at all, to write even this much. But I did anyway. And the resistance faded. And here is something to share with you.

Stop reacting to my resistance. Stop giving it power. Stop being surprised. Stop thinking that it’s going to go away. Don’t try to get rid of it, because that doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to happen. Just notice it:

“Hello, little Resistance. I see you! You are not the boss of me anymore!”

And then do the thing anyway.