Resistance

Recently a friend asked me why I don’t write, as in write more, or write professionally, rather than just the occasional piece of prose, poetry or blog post. He told me that it was as important to my soul as my work as an artisan.

I didn’t disagree with him, but in a way, I blew it off by responding that I do write, for myself and my own pleasure. Then I got to wondering why I never did pursue the writing career that I once thought that I wanted. What stopped me?

It is the very same thing that has stopped me from pursuing other interests and… my own resistance to the effort.

Coincidently this same friend mentioned a book to me last December by Steven Pressfield: The War of Art. In this book, Pressfield addresses the concept of Resistance as the enemy to our creative processes. It is the enemy and it is often confused with external factors and influences, like family and other work.

The resistance is the same thing that is causing me to procrastinate in even writing these few words. It is the unspoken fear of the blank page, the “what if I can’t fill it?”

The realization is that writing is like the jewelry work that I do and it is based on discipline and interest. It is the willingness to go and sit at the bench for a designated period of time everyday, regardless of the results. Some days the work is phenomenal, it flows and pieces just seem to happen effortlessly. Other days I can walk in, sit, and stare at the tools and the silver, I will pick up stones and beads and touch them carefully, searching for a spark of inspiration. Sometimes there is not any and those are the days that I start by making simple earrings. At least by making the effort to do something, I am succeeding in overcoming resistance. I am working and I am working as a professional and I am seriously playing.

The question now becomes, what else do I want to seriously play at?