My last post contained an array of tips for breaking through writer’s block, and they can be very effective for normal resistance, but sometimes you gotta kill the witch to break through extreme resistance!
Get along with the voices inside of my head
I can relate to Eminem’s song, The Monster, and after decades of writing, I’m pretty familiar with the myriad voices inside of my head. I know plenty of Creatives who count “The Monster” as their theme song. At least on darker days.
Friends with the monster that’s under my bed
And most of the time, those voices and I work well together. But there are days when the monster-a.k.a. the witch-gets me by the throat, literally silencing my voice because she screws with my process. My take: our earliest voices are primal and ruthless, even as they may try to protect us. And sometimes they just try to kill us–or kill our stories, our poems, our songs, our paintings, our dances. They’re not venturing out into the sunshine so why should we be able to see the blue sky and the light of day?
I’m melting, melting…
To break through extreme resistance, sometimes you gotta kill the witch. Remember Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz? More importantly, remember the scene when her house lands in Oz only to crush the Wicked Witch of the East? Dorothy feels terrible and frightened but everyone in Oz acts thrilled because they are liberated! Everyone, that is, except for the Wicked Witch of the West who blames Dorothy for her sister’s death. And, yes, Dorothy ultimately tosses water on Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who moans, I’m melting, melting!
It’s no accident that Dorothy kills two witches. Or, perhaps, more accurately, that she temporarily kills two witches. We must face our inner witches again and again. They are tough, and they are ruthless. But so are we! We are creatives!
No judgement, just survival–break through extreme resistance!
So what do you do the next time your inner monster or your inner witch gets you by the throat? Visualize your favorite scene in Grimm’s: Hansel and Gretel shoving the witch into the oven to bake! The friends of Cinderella imprisoning the evil stepmother in red-hot iron shoes so she dances to her death! Or just watch that scene in the Wizard of Oz and relish the witch moaning, I’m melting, melting!
Vanquished for another day
Living a creative life isn’t for wussies. Sorry, it just isn’t. You will be challenged by forces outside of yourself and by your inner monsters and witches, gremlins and gargoyles. Sometimes they will get you by the throat before you realize what’s happening. You might plunge into the crevice of despair–for a few hours, a few days. You might think it’s all over, you will never create again. You’re not worthy. Your work sucks. You suck! You’ve ruined everything. Or you’ve ruined the book or poem or painting that you are working on…all is lost.
Kill the monster, kill the witch
But then you remember! It comes to you. This isn’t normal you. Or even normally abnormal you. This is you in the clutches of the witch, in the vice grip of the monster!
And then you fight back to break through extreme resistance
Sometimes you just gotta kill the witch to break free of extreme resistance! Then you go back to the page, the canvas, the clay, the camera–wherever your vision and your voice live!
Click here for more tips to break through resistance
Do you have tips for fighting extreme resistance? What about mundane resistance? We invite you to share your experiences, your concerns and your successes, your comments. Creatives help Creatives!
Great article, Sarah. Sometimes our own creativity can get scary, tempting us to hunker down and play it safe. But, as they say, “Great things never came from comfort zones.”
So true, Jack! This week me and my internal cast of thousands are pretty much in sync. Last week, not so much! What matters is we keep showing up to do the work–and enjoy the flow when we ease into it! Hope you’re out getting gorgeous photographs!
Thanks for breaking it down like that!