Does avoiding something add value to our Life ?

“𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 > 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞”

I came across this quote written on our office board.
You must be wondering what does this really mean?

Here is something I have to share with you all that I experienced and how it makes perfect sense!

We’ve all grown up hearing – “𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴, 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺.” And while that advice holds merit in many situations, I’ve recently realized – it doesn’t apply to everything.

What’s the difference?

Ø 𝑨𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 means staying away from something that doesn’t serve you.
Ø 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 means actively opposing or fighting against it.

What is the today’s relevance of this concept?

Yesterday, I found myself unintentionally spending 45 minutes to an hour scrolling through the news feed on my personal desktop. I quickly went through news article that popped up on the screen. I kept resisting the urge to read each pop-up, but couldn’t do so.

Reason was quite obvious, newsfeed on my desktop was in active mode, and I knew it was bothering me for quite long.

And I realized the answer was simple, I asked a colleague for help and deactivated the news feed entirely.

That’s when it struck me: 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭.

For all these years, I have been struggling to resist the temptation of various news pop ups. At last solution was very simple. Avoid. Deactivate newsfeed!

And it applies to so many parts of life. We face stiff challenges while adopting good habits and dropping bad habits, for instance :
💡 Trying to eat healthy? Instead of resisting junk food, simply don’t keep it at home. Stock up on healthy options instead.
💡 Struggling with binge-watching? Cancel those subscriptions or block the platforms on your devices.

We glorify resistance like it’s the only way to grow.
But in reality, peace sometimes lies in 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬.

This has been a small but powerful shift in my thinking.
Would love to hear your thoughts –

Where have you seen avoidance working better than resistance in your life?
Let me know in the comments.

Till then,
𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠!