Once seen, it can’t be unseen

“Who’s Castle?! Our Castle! My name is Michael Carlyle, I’m a student of wizardry, and my father was a respected and famous Guardian.”

It has been a year since I became Michal for a few days and participated in Live Action Role Playing (LARP) blockbuster, an interactive experience limited only by the boundaries of your own imagination.

Participants follow a vague narrative wherein they conjure up, act out, shape and manipulating plotlines improvised on the spot with a majestic polish castle as the backdrop. An infinite game, where the aim is not playing to win but rather playing to play.

This is not a story about LARP, but rather how becoming someone else allowed me to come to terms with a truth about myself that I was previously unable to see.

As I sat musing on the experience, I realised that I missed out on essential cues that would have immersed me deeper into the game. Michael Carlyle, a rather dashing Witchard, was only a spectator. My fellow participants were continuously passing prompts. A thunderstorm of opportunities knocking, smashing me in the face, nagging at me to be drawn into fantastic adventures. I did not take the bait. Oblivious, a spectator, an extra, is what I remained throughout the narrative.

What did I notice? I noticed that I wasn’t noticing.

Life’s not linear. You have the opportunity to follow multiple plot-lines, ignore some, combine others — shaping the story the way you want it Just like a LARP. I have come to the conclusion that I’ve been a spectator in the LARP that is my own life; being given cues all along and failing to notice some and not acting on others. Why? This;

“Resistance obstructs movement only from a lower sphere to a higher. It kicks in when we seek to pursue a calling in the arts, launch an innovative enterprise, or evolve to a high station morally, ethically, or spiritually.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

How do you break through the ‘resistance’ that seeks to obstruct your journey?

Before you start. Find all the excuses, dig deep, really deep. This will stop you from using them later on. Take Responsibility.

Let constraints flow. See them for what they are, merely the props that make up the scenery of life. Once transformed, they make the journey rewarding.

Set ambition high, lift the bar on yourself. Turn to friends, get advice and then declare your intention to them. They will help you and hold you accountable.

Coasting. Life is inertia. Even if you are doing nothing, you are still moving in a direction. No decision is a decision. What changed for me? I’m moving from coasting to steering. I’m feeling a heightened sense of possibility, seeing the cues life is launching at me.

Once you have you have seen it, you can’t unsee it.