I’m tired of being told creativity is a war

I understand the battle mentality - our world runs on it. Danger abounds. Life is a struggle. Us vs them. Others. Take a slice of the pie before someone else gets to it first...

But it’s exhausting. And dangerous. If we must always be at war with an enemy, then we can never be at peace and someone always has to lose. 

And it is in peace that creativity flows freely. 

The “enemy” is, of course, resistance. Yes resistance - writer’s block, stuckness, friction - whatever you want to call it. 

As an enemy, resistance is terrifying. A Goliath towering above us and our dreams. If there is to be a loser, we think, it will just step and crush us beneath its massive boot. Better to flee now, or not engage at all...

But I believe resistance is less Goliath, and more BFG - the Big Friendly Giant; here to easily lift us from the floor to the top shelf so we too can reach the giants’ treats.

So what if instead of the enemy, you considered resistance as part of the creative process? Not something to be outrun when its long shadow casts over you, but a sign that you are reaching the edge of your current comforts. A sign that soon the next step will be a leap into growth and your zone of genius. 

We know resistance by its symptom - fear. That clutching in the gut, tightness across the chest, and knot in the throat. And our brains respond to fear the only way they know how - flight, fight, freeze. 

But none of those is needed. Yes, it is scary to climb into the giant’s hand. It could crush us in a fist. As we are lifted toward a shelf we could not otherwise reach, more doubts creep in - what if we get dropped? What if we fall? We’ve never been this high before...

And of course, what is on that shelf? What if giant spiders are waiting? Poison dripping from fangs? Or worse - eight limbs holding eight phones, ready to clickety-clackety negativity onto eight social media accounts.

What if we’re dreadfully successful, how will we keep it up?

But if you pay attention, and once all the worries have escaped the box, listen out for the small voice - what you’ll find under all that fear is anticipation. 

Anticipation of greatness. 

The rush as the rollercoaster reaches its peak, we see for the first time a glimpse of the entire, exhilarating course before us... and anticipate the ride that is about to come. 

All that flashes through us in an instant as the giant offers his hand. The pause as we decide what next is our resistance. Out resistance appearing to ask if we are ready for the adventure to come... because it is here. 

This isn’t an enemy, but a guide and a sign that we are at the edge of our current comfort and about to embark into growth - into our zone of genius. It is here, in this zone of genius, that our creativity flourishes, and new comfort is found. That we realise the discomfort that comes from staying in the zone of complacency - masquerading as it so often does, as comfort.

And when we know resistance is on our side, we learn to set out the red carpet when it appears in each step of the creative process - because that means we’re doing something right and about to be lifted to new heights and new opportunities. We learn to breathe, let those shallow fears go, and feel the anticipation underneath - and step onto the giant’s offered hand.