The hidden power of resistance: Your key to profound change
Nearly all of my coaching clients come to me wanting to make a big life change. Yet they can’t seem to actually make it.
Sometimes no matter how much we want to make something happen in our lives, we have a tendency to avoid, procrastinate, or judge ourselves for it. We conjure up all kinds of reasons why we shouldn’t go for it.
Sometimes we make an attempt to go for it and injure ourselves unexpectedly. Or the tech backfires on us (like the time my PayPal got hacked while trying to make a big, scary investment in my business).
All of this is called resistance, friend. And I see it all the time.
Take my newest client, for example. Let’s call her Melanie.
Melanie hated her 9–5 job. She dreaded getting up in the morning. The people were toxic. Her projects felt like a burden.
Everything in her soul was telling her to quit and start her own business. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Despite wanting to change so badly, she was resistant.
But here’s the thing about resistance—it’s simply energy that needs to be recognized, honoured, and released. I call this process of moving through energy “decoding”. And lucky for you, decoding energy is my superpower.
I’m going to let you in on a little energetic secret:
If one energy is present in your life, you must always consider its opposite.
For example:
Dark / Light
Lack / Abundance
Resistance / Freedom
Energetically speaking, we can’t have one without the other. This means that you will experience resistance most strongly when you’re on the cusp of profound freedom.
So how do we move through resistance? Well, let’s check back in on Melanie.
Melanie faced her resistance by acknowledging areas of her life where she had freedom. She had the freedom to take a two week leave from her toxic job. So she did. This gave her a small window of even more freedom to process.
During this time she interviewed for a dream job at a company very similar to the one she wanted to start. It paid the exact same salary as her current job, only it was part time(!), meaning she’d have the time and resources (i.e. freedom) to start her business on the side.
By leaning gently into the small bit of freedom she had available to her, Melanie was able to expand it, releasing resistance more and more with each step forward.
As it turned out, Melanie didn’t land that dream job. But just by being close to it, she received a much needed confidence boost, which inspired her to go ahead and start her own business. She’s already received her first couple of clients and continues to grow.
Melanie is proof that even when you give yourself a small window to allow the energy of resistance to be processed, it can catapult you threefold. Maybe even more.