Days 10-16, and the Resistance Monster.

Well here I am. It’s Day 16 of my 100 Day Project and I’m already feeling out of ideas and sort of tired of this project. FUN TIMES!!

But I am very familiar with this pattern. It’s not just a 100 Day Project thing, it’s a me and consistency thing. It’s a me and creating a new habit thing. It’s a me and resistance thing.

It goes a little like this:

1.  Get an idea. Have a super cool idea about something and get really, really, REALLY excited about starting it!

2. Plan, plan and plan some more! Get really nerdy and intricate with all my plans and all of the really cool things I will do. Jot down extensive notes and dates of when I will do these things in my calendar. Plan away!

3. Day 1 – BEGIN!  Start the thing with joy, fervor and chutzpah! Tell myself, “I am going to rock this thing! The world will be in awe … I may even get a book deal!!!”

4. Days 2-5: Keep it up!  Keep doing the thing… with perhaps a bit less chutzpah and fervor, but with a capital “C” for Commitment!

5. After Day 5…

– Slowly find more and more ways to procrastinate on doing said thing….put it off a bit longer each day.

– Realize that I am in resistance. Hear voices in my head saying things like, “You don’t really need to do that. Why bother? You were fine before. You’ll be fine just skipping a day… what will happen, anyway?”

– Really relish in my resistance. FIGHT IT! Get mad at my project! Kick it like an old tire and say it’s a stupid thing to do anyway! Yeah!

– Finally surrender. Get tired and give up the fight.

– Come back to my practice of simply showing up and doing one small thing toward my goal.

– Do one small thing regularly, trying not to judge how it turns out. Just do it.

– Rinse and repeat. And keep showing up.

 

This is pretty much how all of my initiatives have gone. Tons of energy and enthusiasm at the beginning, not so much as I get into them.

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“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”

― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

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So today, this blog post is my sitting down and trying. I did not feel like painting anything so I thought I’d create a blog post instead.

And as for my 100 Day Project, here’s my biggest learning so far:

Just do one small thing, no matter what it is. Just keep showing up.

So there you have it 🙂

 

Oh! And so you don’t feel left out, Dear Reader, here’s a recap of Days 10-15:

Day 10

“Strut.” Acrylic on canvas.

Day 11

“Brett”  Blind portrait.

Day 12

“Melissa”  Blind portrait

Day 13

Watercolor

Day 14

2 apples and a mango watercolor

Day 15

3 Blind Self-portraits (some of my favorites 🙂

 

Onward.