In War of Art’, Steven Pressfield expresses the immense hindering effect resistance has on humankind, it prevents us from working towards our goals; resistance wants us to stay where we are. We aid resistance with our fears which may be completely rational and real, however, they still have a detrimental effect on us.
“Resistance feeds on fear. We experience Resistance as fear. But fear of what? Fear of the consequences of following our heart. Fear of bankruptcy, fear of poverty, fear of insolvency. Fear of groveling when we try to make it on our own, and of groveling when we give up and come crawling back to where we started. Fear of being selfish, of being rotten wives or disloyal husbands; fear of failing to support our families, of sacrificing their dreams for ours. Fear of betraying our race, our ’hood, our homies. Fear of failure. Fear of being ridiculous. Fear of throwing away the education, the training, the preparation that those we love have sacrificed so much for, that we ourselves have worked our butts off for. Fear of launching into the void, of hurtling too far out there; fear of passing some point of no return, beyond which we cannot recant, cannot reverse, cannot rescind, but must live with this cocked-up choice for the rest of our lives. Fear of madness. Fear of insanity. Fear of death.” – Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfield listed a myriad of different fears, almost all of which I found myself relating to. These fears hold us back from doing what we were meant to do; fear of being judged, fear of rejection and fear of failure always seem to hold me back. However, Steven Pressfield conveys that the real fear is the FEAR THAT WE WILL SUCCEED.
At first, I didn’t know what he meant by this, but soon I could see where he was coming from. We are always are chasing after something, often a dream, but once we achieved that dream we are at a loss. Once we reach this peak, we fear that we have to prove that we are worthy of it.