Back in my teenage days, I used to be very slim.
It was 2012 when my uncle introduced me to the word ‘BodyBuilding’ and showed how it can get me a good body.
He had his own homemade dumbbells, a wooden bench, and rods.
So he taught me the art and a little bit of the science of bodybuilding to the best of his knowledge.
I hated being too slim with a skeleton-like body.
This is me back in 2014, after 2 years of bodybuilding.
So, with full passion and enthusiasm, I started doing the exercises.
Every night when everyone at my village house used to fall asleep, I would go to the rooftop and start doing the exercises my uncle taught me.
Whether it was a chilly winter night or a scorching 45-degree summer night…
I never skipped a day because I wanted to stop looking like a skeleton.
Since 2012, I have never spent more than 3 months straight without bodybuilding exercise or strength training or any form of physically exhaustive activity.
It has become a part of me. It has become my addiction.
But the problem begins when I could do this hard stuff without any procrastination…
But I delay or procrastinate when it comes to work.
By work, I mean the actual work that could make money and the work to evolve myself and realize a good life.
I couldn’t discover the cause.
Why is it that the thing that takes more energy and is apparently harder, I can do easily, but I find it really hard to do the work?
Somehow, I used to manage to do enough work that could sustain my average lifestyle.
But I wasn’t building anything sustainable for my future.
And whenever I tried to do so, I failed and was overpowered by procrastination.
These are screenshots from my running app where I used to write a short note after each run, along with a selfie.
You can see how I was struggling to overcome my inability to work.
Until recently, I discovered the concept of RESISTANCE from the book ‘The War of Art by Seven Pressfield.
The cause is RESISTANCE.
It is a negative force in the universe that has only one purpose.
To prevent humans from doing anything that delays instant gratification and the work that comes from their higher self.
It’s the enemy, and a very powerful enemy.
The victory of this enemy is when humans don’t pursue their higher self.
Resistance wins when humans ignore their inner gifted genius.
GOD has given each human a genius which is holy, inner, and you can say, a spiritual calling.
That genius is what embodies your true being. That genius is where your soul sits.
And resistance, at any cost, doesn’t want you to actualize your genius and act out of it.
So resistance does everything to prevent humans from actualizing their genius.
Those who actualize it, they very firmly fight with this enemy and defeat it.
You can feel it when you see a painting that just grabs your heart.
When you see a marvelous design of a building that makes you wonder how the engineer came up with such a design.
When you read something that hits you on a deeper level.
When you listen to someone and get lost in another world.
When you use some tool or machinery and you feel the brilliance of it.
All such things are created out of that inner genius.
And each of us has that genius, but we try our best not to listen to it.
Think of the times when you thought of becoming a world-class doctor, scientist, engineer, speaker, writer, painter, or anything.
Think of the times when you felt that your current life and current self is not what it should be, and you decided to change it. You decided to become something you would be proud of.
But you didn’t. That thought, that wish, that desire vanished.
Maybe the next day, or maybe you failed in doing so and you quit.
That quitting is when resistance finally defeated you.
If that’s not the case…
Then why are feeling your inner genius right now while reading this.
Isn’t it calling you from within?
Feel the energy in your body now. Is it rising? Is your body, mind, and heart calling you to get up and do the sh*t that you always wished to do?
If yes, then you can also see your enemy RESISTANCE clearly.
You can see how in your whole life it defeated you and didn’t let you do the thing that can lift your current lower self to a higher self.
You need to be a warrior against this enemy to protect and thrive in your inner genius that GOD has gifted you.
Scrolling, watching videos, unnecessary learning, shopping, feeling victimized, self-dramatization, fights, TV, drugs, eating junk – all are attacks of resistance to detract you from pursuing your inner genius.
To give you another insight about resistance vs. your inner genius.
Here is the man who succeeded in ruling 823,505 km^2 of land in Europe, with a population of about 109.5 million people.
But badly defeated by his biggest enemy, RESISTANCE.
The man was Hitler, the mind behind one of the greatest world wars named World War 2.
It is strange to believe how a man who could initiate a world-level war failed in front of his resistance.
But as the author of ‘The War of Art’ explains, he initially wanted to be an artist.
He even applied to the Academy of Fine Arts and later to the School of Architecture with the money he inherited.
Did you ever see his paintings? Nobody has. The reason?
Resistance beat him.
As the author Steven Pressfield says, it was easier for him to start a war than face a blank canvas.
Exactly was the case with me, it had been and still easier for me to go to the gym than sit and work on my better future.
So, look into yourself, what is easier for you than doing your own thing that actually matters?
It can be anything that is convincing you not to do the hard and worthy thing.
Find it, and don’t let it bury your inner genius.
That’s it for today.
Thank you for reading.
Be a warrior against this enemy and win everyday battles.
See you in the next post.
– Sami