Are you an entrepreneur? An artist? A writer? No matter what your job, your career, your role…you are a creator.

When you initiate the process of change, whether it’s a new diet, a new spiritual path, a new career or a new business, the creation process triggers things in your internal and external world. The external changes are more rational, easier to explain and understand. Even those who don’t agree with your or support you fully, can see the changes you are making. What are more difficult to see are the changes that are beginning to shift internally for you.

Once you’ve made a decision to make that shift, that change, that move, the resistance begins to arise. This resistance can show up in so many ways. For some it is a drive to be distracted, a drive to wash the dishes, a drive to second guess and doubt your initial passion.

For others, the resistance can come up as picking arguments for seemingly minor issues, or catching a cold or staying up too late and becoming exhausted the next morning. For others the resistance is Facebook and surfing the web.

Once you learn to identify and move through the resistance (which is a constant battle for any creator, though we get more skilled at recognizing it faster), and begin to move forward creation phase, the actual roll-up-your-sleeves-and build it phase, there is one more phase that we pass through. This is the one where self-sabotage is most likely to happen. And to the outside world, it would seem most understandable.

This phase is called panic.

So what’s up with the panic? Why is it that when you are on the cusp of something amazing, something that will take you to the next level, why does the panic bubble up?

It bubbles up precisely BECAUSE your are on the verge of a breakthrough.

According to Stephen Pressfield, author of Do The Work, “creative panic is good” and here’s why:

“When we are succeeding- that is when, when we have begun to overcome our self-doubt and self-sabotage, when we are advancing in our craft and evolving to a higher level – that’s when panic strikes.”

Can you imagine changing your lens on panic? Imagine using it as an internal guide-post, a GPS system telling you that you are on track and about to make leap into the next gorgeous phase of your path.

According to Pressfield, “When we experience panic, it means that we are about to cross the threshold. We’re poised on the doorstep of a higher plane.”

As I experienced my own panic recently, (and this was not the first time) I was able to see and experience it differently. Even as my amazing husband held me through my sobbing, I could feel that this was not a panic that would hold me back. I could feel something sloughing off, like a snakeskin that was no longer needed. I felt a release. I walked into and through the panic; I faced it and walked out of the other side with a new resolve to make my dreams a reality. I walked out with a new resolve to go step-by-step, knowing that the next phase would bring new resistance and new panic.

This is what I have learned. As I support my own clients through their transitions, I expect the panic and the doubt. It’s ok. I can sit with it and not be scared off by it. That is a powerful space to hold. And I am up for the challenge, tears and all.

How about you? What’s your relationship to panic and resistance? Do you notice it come up as you step out in new ways? I’d love to hear from you with your answer to the following question in the comments below.

What’s the # 1 way that resistance shows up for you?

And how do you move through it?

January 2014 Issue