Today's post and podcast are about “Resistance”
If you are not familiar with what resistance is I encourage you to take a look at The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
As for resistance, I have to admit it’s nice to have a name for my true enemy in life. Bruce Lee was once famously quoted saying: “There is no opponent”. I think I finally understand what that means. My only goal has become to be better than who I was the day before. The fear to create and publish was in fact, resistance. I get to publicly beat resistance every time I make a post. You fulfill my destiny by reading these words. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Another endeavor I let resistance beat me at was the creation of Swirled: A Podcast. My wonderful partner Sonya and I overcame a mountain of resistance to sit down and record that first episode for you, so I hope you find some enjoyment in listening to us. For me, episode #1 is an automatic win because it exists. We didn’t have a topic, we had no plan for how long it was going to be, all we cared about was turning on garage band and recording our vocals, we would figure the rest out as we go. We took a leap. I won’t say we stuck the landing, but as far as conversations that capture the true essence of our relationship goes, I think we did pretty good. Honestly, I had zero expectations. It was just fun to talk about stuff and junk with the person I love.
So, now is the perfect time to segue into one of my favorite topics and activities: Improv! Also the purpose of creating this blog and what you have all been waiting for. So, what the hell does improv have to do with all of this? Well, in short words, much like in a scene on stage the universe will never reward inaction. Bold choices served us best. To have any success we really just had to do something, anything. In essence, we jumped off the cliff and started putting the plane together on the way down. That’s how the game of improv is played. This is how the game of life is played as well. I have come to define Improv as "life practice". The first episode of Swirled and this first blog have something in common and that is I had to make a bold choice, take a leap of faith and improvise.
Take notice when the episode is most entertaining. For me it’s when Sonya and I are having the most fun. That concept is also true to improv. I find I am most entertained by a performer when they are having fun. Honestly, that seems to be the case when I see anyone do anything. Sports, music, two people quietly conversing in a coffee shop. Everything looks better when the participants appear to be having fun. So in the spirit of improv, by all means and for the love of all that is good and true, make a bold choice and have a little fun while doing it.