I want to thank ruthie for her comment under another of my goals to let me know about a web site called “Squalor Survivers”. It has a lot of helpful and interesting information, but what’s really hitting home to me is an article about something called “demand resistance”. And what exactly is that? It’s that feeling I get every day that I post my 3 daily goals, that feeling that whispers, “I really should do these 3 things, but I don’t want to, so I won’t”, that part of me that’s a rebel and feels controlled unfairly. Or, as the article says, “Demand-Resistance is defined as a chronic and automatic negative inner response to the perception of pressure, expectations, or demands (from within or without)(Mallinger and De Wyze, Too Perfect,1992).

Overcoming demand resistance involves, at least in part, becoming clearer about what I really want. The web site again quotes the same two authors:

To change the patterns, you’ll need to reconnect with the “I want” aspect of everything you do. Catch yourself thinking “I should” or “I have to,” and challenge these thoughts. Stop telling yourself “I have to” unless you’re certain that’s the case. Don’t let the ownership of your life slip away. Realize that even when you are pressured to do something, the decision to comply or not is entirely yours.

I’m not quite sure how exactly to go about doing it. It seems to somehow involve befriending my inner critic, who is the one that tells me what I should be doing.