For me…
Sometimes the encouragement of other dreamers just isn’t enough.
When I get myself stuck in the I’m too busy, I have too many kids, my dog ate my homework, my hair is too frizzy, doldrums, I don’t need encouragement. No, I need a good kick in the butt and a reminder that anything worthwhile is going to be HARD!
It isn’t my family’s fault.
Or some lack in my genetic make-up.
Or an issue with my circumstances that causes me to falter and fail to reach my goals. Too often, it is just ME. It’s my refusal to recognize that the opposition to reaching my dreams comes from inside my own heart.
That’s why I love the book, The War of Art, by Steven Pressman. Steven GETS IT! His pointed writing was just what I needed to remind me of several important truths. Yes, I will face opposition.
Yes, I will be discouraged.
Yes, I will fail more often than I succeed.
Those truths are not the issue. The issue is my own commitment to living out what God has placed in my heart.
*I wish that I could wholeheartedly recommend Steven’s book to you. Unfortunately, although it was just the helpful kick in the rear that I needed, it was also fairly full of colorful and unwholesome language. (I’m pretty sure he picked it up in the Marines)
So no, I don’t recommend the book!
But please consider this list taken from Chapter One. Steven’s list of activities that will face what he calls “Resistance” reminded me again of just what makes living my dream so difficult.
He writes:
“The following is a list, in no particular order, of those activities that most commonly elicit Resistance:
- The pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional. (Yep, that’s me)
- The launching of any entrepreneurial venture of enterprise, for profit or otherwise. (Who would want to buy my stuff?)
- Any diet or health regimen. (Amen)
- Any program of spiritual advancement. (My spirit is willing; my flesh… Not so much)
- Any activity whose aim is tighter abdominals. (Again I say amen!)
- Any course or program designed to overcome an unwholesome habit or addiction.
- Education of every kind.
- Any act of political, moral, or ethical courage, including the decision to change, for the better some unworthy pattern of thought or conduct in ourselves.
- The undertaking of any enterprise or endeavor whose aim is to help others.
- Any act that entails commitment of the heart. The decision to get married, to have a child, to weather a rocky patch in a relationship.
- The taking of any principled stand in the face of adversity.”
Steven explains it so clearly when he says, “Any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity will face resistance.”
Do you get it? That reluctance you’re feeling to push through, to complete or compete in your dreaming, is natural!
It’s expected.
It’s predictable.
It’s a known quantity and as such, it must never get the victory!
Purpose today, that regardless of your particular form of resistance, you will not cave in, slow down, or quit.
There are great achievements just waiting to be achieved and daring dreams waiting to be dreamed.
Don’t give up!
Keep dreaming,
Megan
Is “Resistance” slowing you down and sapping your energy? Recognize how resistance is at work and formulate a plan for victory!
Megan Scheibner 
What if you don’t have a dream? I mean, I’m involved in worthwhile pursuits….wife, mommy, christian….they are who I am, not pursuits, really. But, I have no dream, vision, within these areas. What would you say to that? And if it is, ‘Well, get a dream then!’ My next question would be, ‘OK!…..HOW?’
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