Your Biggest Resistance Might be Your Biggest Growth Opportunity
“Oil painting is beautiful”
“I really admire oil painters”
“I could never do that”
Just some of the things I used to come out with to my husband on a regular basis. I had oil painting placed on the highest pedestal and I could never imagine even trying.
At the time, I was doing a lot of printmaking. I could handle pencils, pens, and ink - anything monochrome. But in my head, oil painting was a different world. Between the colours, the mediums, the endless technical jargon, it all seemed impossible for someone like me.
But if there’s anything I learned from being chronically ill for three years, it’s that a lot of what you can and can’t do is rooted in mindset. If you think you can’t do something, then you damned well can’t.
“That Smells Like Bullsh*t!!”
I don’t know when it happened, but one day I caught myself thinking this. And called myself out. I’d never even tried it and yet I told myself that it was impossible for me.
So I found a tutor. I booked a few classes. My logic was simple: if I tried and failed, at least I could say I’d given it a go.
I went to some classes. And I saw a glimmer - maybe this wasn’t actually impossible.
Something Just Clicked
It only took a few hours of classes before I realised that i absolutely loved it! There was something so meditative about the process of painting. Very soon I was hooked!
I used to think my hesitation meant I wasn’t ready. But maybe resistance is just the shape fear takes when you’re standing at the edge of something that truly matters.
Now that I’ve started painting, I can’t imagine ever stopping. I know that I’ve found my life’s work - something I’ll still be doing until my eyes or my hands stop working!