Resistance: Fall of Man

The Invisible Enemy of the Actor: Resistance - As identified by Steven Pressfield

'The War of Art'

The Devils Triangle: Difficulty, Discomfort and the other Demon

Hi Actor,

Previously I've spoken about the discomfort of diving into new skills & the difficulty level we must seek in practicing anything at a deep/ effective level. From both of these conversations we've covered why acting can be so challenging and perhaps we could conclude that this is the reason a lot of people jump ship early in their career/ studies. There is however one more foe to consider. The final corner to what I define as The Actor's Bermuda Triangle. The last installation of the 3 piece puzzle to why the acting landscape can be so treacherous.

There's a secret that real actors know that wannabe actors don't and that secret is this: It's not the acting part that's hard. What's hard is getting up to act. What keeps us from getting up is resistance.

-A slight adaption to the original words written by Steven Pressfield (S.P.) in his opening chapter-

'Defining The Enemy'

The original words of the above quote were directed at writers and illustrate how the hardest part of writing is the sitting down, to write. Resistance battles us at all fronts and we must be prepared to fight it. It's faster than the speed of light and can knock us off course before we know what's hit us. It begins it's attack as soon as we open our eyes of a morning and before we even think about pursuing something creative. In fact resistance is so insidious it can creep into every facet of our lives too. It prevents us from ever going out to get what we want. It convinces us a career outside the arts would be "Just so much easier".

Of the 3 Devils (Difficulty, Discomfort & Resistance): Resistance is at the front lines. It will hit you as soon as the thought of doing something worthwhile appears. It waists no time. It works efficiently and is relentless in its pursuit of taking down it's foe (you). If there is a weakness in your defence it will find it. It will bargain, tempt, cajole, threaten, reason, intimidate, debate, beg, plead and do anything to keep you from your dreams and aspirations.

Some of Resistances greatest hits?

"Don't learn your lines for the audition - it's not worth the effort, you can pick it up 5 minutes before"

"It's only class. No need to stress about preparing right now. I'll do it later OR I'll just wing it!"

"I've always wanted to be a writer, never got around to doing it."

"I don't want to have that challenging conversation with (Insert name of: boss, coworker, partner, friend, or family member) right now, next week... or the following would be better."

"Don't go to gym this week. Whats another week off?"

"Instead of being creative and making something, I should binge that new show"

"I don't want to cook, I'll just get something from the shops. Whats another $10?"

Resistance destroys friendships, relationships, families, careers, bank balances, wellbeing, health and anything else worth putting our time into. What's crazier: we don't even know it's happening to us.

Steven articulately describes resistance as the rout cause of all human suffering.

How many of us have become drunks and drug addicts, developed tumours and neuroses, succumbed to painkillers, gossip, and compulsive cell-phone use, simply because we don’t do that thing that our hearts, our inner genius, is calling us to? Resistance defeats us. If tomorrow morning by some stroke of magic every dazed and benighted soul woke up with the power to take the first step toward pursuing his or her dreams, every shrink in the directory would be out of business. Prisons would stand empty. The alcohol and tobacco industries would collapse, along with the junk food, cosmetic surgery, and infotainment businesses, not to mention pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the medical profession from top to bottom. Domestic abuse would become extinct, as would addiction, obesity, migraine headaches, road rage, and dandruff.

The image painted here is bleak to say the least. Resistance seems to be kicking our butt and what is it's end goal? To keep each and every one of us from our own "genius".

Genius is a latin word; the romans used it to denote an inner spirit, holy and inviolable, which watches over us, guiding us to our calling.

S.P.

A little voice, can be heard calling us towards that inner genius. We just need to listen to hear it. We need to follow it freely, run toward it, uninhibited. To do so, we need to fight away resistance at every turn and do the damn thing we know we are destined to do.

Unfortunately for us actors, Resistance is found to be most powerful in the pursuit of anything creative or unconventional. Anyone who's diving into acting as a choice of career will no doubt be needing to gear up heavily to take on this beast of mythological size. As artists we will be fighting the beast most days. Sadly, there is no way of destroying it completely. Like the hydra, you cut the head off and another 2 will replace it the following day. It can never be defeated permanently but we can win one battle at a time. You may get better at fighting it but... Warning: the monster grows with the strength of the warrior. Don't ever underestimate it's ability. Each of us is only as good as our last fight and each time it returns, we must confront it, or meet our end. It's a scary journey ahead.

So Lachy, how do we take back our: lives, creative pursuits, careers, relationships, friendships, money and anything else resistance seems to have plucked from us?

We recognise it for what it is. We note: "oh hey, there it is, thats Resistance". We ask ourselves, "What am I avoiding doing right now?", "By doing the thing I'm thinking about doing, am I taking a step towards or away from my genius?". Then we act.

We get curious and honest with ourselves. We decide at every turn to follow our genius.

• We get out of the house.

• We start preparing for the audition as soon as we get it.

• We take that class we've been wanting to take.

• We write the email to "that agent".

• We put ourselves in the position to meet someone we may grow to love.

  • We act on that love.

• We have the uncomfortable conversation with our partner/ friend that we've been putting off.

• We call up family we haven't spoken to for a while.

• We go to the damn gym and eat our greens!

• We practice acting each and every day - no matter how little time we have (even 2 minutes is enough)

To be an artist, to be an actor, you must proclaim resistance as the enemy and wage war. Move towards your genius as apposed to following the self destructive path of resistance. It's that simple. But oh so challenging. Thats why we're in this though - we love a challenge.

Thanks for reading! If you liked the post, don't forget to like and share it around. I don't promote the blog other than the once a week email to subscribers. The only way for audiences to grow is through word of mouth. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe! Comment below and reach out directly if you have any questions for me. Appreciate you all!

Talk soon,

Lachy

Lachlan is an Australian Actor who has been working within the industry for a decade. He’s worked in Film & Theatre.

© Lachlan Stuart 2025