Resistance is how we protect ourselves from taking risks

This is going to kill your children

“This is going to kill your children” – Jamie Oliver is making a point about cooking junk food for your kids. The quote and screenshot above is from Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. What I find interesting in the show is not so much the garbage that we eat these days, as much as the amazing amount of resistance to any change when a stranger tries to approach us about something we have been doing all our lives (watch more here: Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Episode 1 Part 3).

When the outsider is your enemy, when someone tries to take you out of your comfort zone, resistance is the easier path to take, no mater how deep in a hole you are.

The outsider can also be our own self. Take the issues of procrastination or relentless multi-tasking for example. Sarah Bush writes:

“…if you think you don’t finish things because you get bored or restless and just like to move on, I’d like you to consider that this really might be Resistance in Disguise. Resistance is how we protect ourselves from taking risks. So if you never finish anything, you don’t have to risk determining that it’s “bad” or that you’re “not talented” because it’s not done. Who knows how it might turn out. By not finishing, you protect yourself from your own mean rule.”

(Read more: The Tricky Art of Finishing What You Start)

How do you deal with resistance from others or yourself? Jamie Oliver uses shock, gathering together all the garbage food this family is eating in a week. Sarah Bush tries to cut through her doubts and just finish what she started. Even if the result is bad, finishing empowers you to do even more. When you’ve proven yourself to complete what you started, everything further just seems simpler.

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