This Is War, Evidently
Last night I bought what is officially referred to as a "self-help" book. I didn't realize that it was a self-help book when I put it on my reading list for the week, and I didn't plan on buying it either (especially when I found out that it was a self-help book), but the library was closed last night so I ended up browsing at Borders, coffee in hand and no diaper bag in sight (the Man is trying to institute a baby-free night for my sanity--what a good husband!). I thought I'd pick up a copy of The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles just to flip through it and see if I really did want to read it. A friend of mine has been referencing it in his facebook statuses, and the quotations he included intrigued me.
So there I was, at Borders, curled up in one of their black leather chairs with my coffee and my journal and The War of Art, while the portly old gentleman across from me snoozed while pretending to read the newspaper. And before I knew it I was 30 odd pages in and franticly scribbling quotes in my journal, and I knew that this book was going home with me, and that the next morning I would wake up and "fight the good fight." And I did.
Instead of waiting for Littles to wake me up this morning, I got up when the Man did and took care of business so that by the time Little Dude went down for his first nap, I could go straight to spending time with God and writing. And I have. I had to sit down and look myself in the face last night (this book has that kind of effect on you) and realize that I was giving in to what Steven Pressfield terms as "Resistance" and losing out on the goodness that God has to offer me if I would just use the gifts he's given me (the second part is me, not necessarily Pressfield). I know I'm supposed to be writing, but I do everything but write. It's the same situation in the other important areas of my life. Pressfield writes, "Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it." And it's true! I can think about how I spend my time during the day, and it takes me the longest to get to the things that are the most important.
I'm two-thirds of the way through the book, and while I caution that it must be read with discernment, I've got to say...Pressfield has really kicked me in the butt. I guess we'll see where I go from there. As Pressfield says, "The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day." So tomorrow, when the battle starts again, will I stay home and hide or go out to meet the enemy?
