You know well, the truth is: many things you don’t want to do are often the very things you need to do, maybe especially when you don’t want to do them most.
- I hate the gym. There is nothing about the experience I enjoy… except leaving when it is over.
- I grow weary and annoyed with attending too many 12 Step Meetings. The same boring stories every night.
- After nearly 2 years I tire of my only intermittent success with meditating. I get into my habitual meditation position only begrudgingly.
- I don’t want to paint because I am too lazy to prepare—which requires about 10 minutes.
The Habits That Count
Obviously that is a very short and seemingly menial list. But perhaps that is part of my point. My daily life is composed primarily of regular everyday stuff, like the gym, meditating, attending meetings, and practicing artistic expression. The big things are far more infrequent and most often not as big as I first perceived them, especially as they become healthy habits.
I think the point is not so much that we do the menial normal things whether we want to or not. The point is that habitually doing those everyday things is precisely how we become the persons we want to be. Grit. Perseverance. Overcoming the boring lazy side that would rather binge-watch TV, eat, drink, sleep or just complain.
Soon the unwanted things become a habit, only to once again turn into a nuisance, and then again to a more reinforced habit. And the cycle of maturity, wisdom, and willpower become a strong part of our core—defining who we are. Defined by our resilience not our resistance to the hard things that will make us healthy, wealthy and wise. Well, I guess two out of three isn’t bad. I’ll take ‘em.
Resilience or Resistance
When Doing What You Don’t Want is What You Need to Do
Photo courtesy of DenizA at istockphoto
