How to Handle Resistance

It’s time for Transformational Tuesdays again, where we talk about all kinds of things related to transformation, self-development, and positive growth. 

Transformation is simple, but it’s not easy. We’ve got to put some attention and time and work into it. 

So it can be frustrating when we are met with responses that seem to be resistant, either from other people in our lives, or even from ourselves.

Read on to get my take on this phenomenon, and see how you can deal with this resistance without derailing your progress! 

Resistance Shows Up Differently

Have you ever noticed that when you start to really move forward in your life, you’re often met with resistance?

It can be all kinds of resistance. Resistance from friends and family, or resistance in your health. Maybe you start getting a cold, or start getting backaches. In my personal life I’ve had a stuck kidney stone, and broke my elbow, at pivotal moments in my transformation.

Resisting Makes It Harder

What I have been discovering is that it’s the resistance to the resistance that gets us stuck.

Think of it this way:

If you’re trying to make forward progress in your life, it’s easy to see anything that impedes that progress as negative and unwanted. So it’s natural to try to ignore it, or get frustrated that it’s happening.

What if instead of seeing this resistance as a negative, we just identify it and accept it as part of the process of becoming the beautiful human being that we were created to be?

It could be that you’re in your professional career and you’re moving forward in something. Or you’re an entrepreneur and you started a new business and you’re seeing resistance. Or it could be that you’re just being very conscious and mindful of being on a self-development journey. And maybe you’ve opened up some wounds or things that needed healing, and now you’re feeling the resistance.

This is all perfectly normal. So remember, don’t resist the resistance.

Become an Observer

The best way to handle working through the resistance is to stop putting judgment on it and accept it as part of the process.

Expect that resistance is going to show up because you’re in growth mode. When you’re in growth mode, your ego will get a little freaked out. Your ego wants to protect you by staying the same, and it calls in things that are going to show up as resistance to the changes you’re trying to make.

It’s important to be able to step back and be an observer versus a participant. This perspective will allow you to see it for what it is, and know that resistance is okay and part of the process.

Transformation is always a process (read more about this here!) There will always be periods of expansion and then retraction. The key is to know that both the positives and negatives will show up, and observe them without judgment.

Where in your life are you seeing resistance right now, as you are on your path to self-development?