Living Resistance: How to Reclaim Your Identity and Power in a World That Tries to Define You

There are books that inform you, and then there are books that fundamentally shift how you see yourself and the world around you. Kaitlin B. Curtice’s Living Resistance falls firmly into the second category. This isn’t just another self-help book promising you’ll find yourself in seven easy steps. It’s a raw, honest exploration of what it means to live authentically when systems of power constantly try to tell you who you should be. Curtice, a Potawatomi author and poet, weaves together Indigenous wisdom, personal narrative, and spiritual reflection to create something genuinely transformative. If you’ve ever felt like you’re living according to someone else’s script, if you’ve struggled to reconcile different parts of your identity, or if you’re tired of systems that demand you shrink yourself to fit in, this book is for you. Let’s dive deep into what makes Living Resistance so powerful and, more importantly, how you can actually apply its wisdom to your own life.

Understanding the Foundation: What Living Resistance Really Means

Before we get into practical tips, we need to understand what Curtice means by “living resistance.” This isn’t about political activism (though it can include that). It’s about the daily, often invisible work of refusing to let dominant narratives define who you are. Curtice writes from her experience as an Indigenous woman navigating a culture that has historically tried to erase Indigenous people. But her insights resonate far beyond that specific context. Anyone who’s felt marginalised, misunderstood, or forced to code-switch knows exactly what she’s talking about. Living resistance means:

Honouring your authentic self even when it’s inconvenient for others
Recognising how systems of power shape your thinking
Making conscious choices about which narratives you’ll accept
Building community with others who see you fully
Reclaiming practices and traditions that connect you to your roots

The beauty of Curtice’s approach is that she doesn’t present this as a battle you fight once and win. It’s an ongoing practice, something you return to again and again as you encounter new challenges and grow into deeper understanding.

The Power of Story: Reclaiming Your Narrative

One of the most compelling aspects of Living Resistance is Curtice’s emphasis on storytelling. She argues that those in power have always understood that controlling the story means controlling people. If they can tell you who you are, they can limit what you believe is possible for yourself. Think about the stories you’ve absorbed about your identity. Where did they come from? Your family? Your culture? The media? Religious institutions? Schools? Many of us carry narratives we never consciously chose. Curtice shares her own journey of unlearning harmful stories about Indigenous people, about women, about what it means to be spiritual. She describes the painstaking work of separating truth from propaganda, of finding her own voice beneath layers of other people’s expectations. This isn’t just about big identity categories. It’s also about the personal stories you tell yourself. The narrative that says you’re not creative, not smart enough, too sensitive, too much. These stories shape your choices in ways you might not even notice.

Decolonising Your Mind: Recognising Invisible Frameworks

Here’s where Curtice’s work gets really challenging (in the best way). She invites readers to examine the frameworks they use to understand the world, particularly frameworks rooted in colonial thinking. What does that mean practically? Colonial thinking assumes:

There’s one right way to do things (usually the dominant culture’s way)
Progress is linear and measured by Western standards
Individual achievement matters more than community wellbeing
Nature exists to be exploited rather than respected
Some forms of knowledge are legitimate while others aren’t

These assumptions are so embedded in Western culture that they’re often invisible. You might not think you believe these things, but they shape everything from how education systems work to how you judge your own productivity. Curtice doesn’t shame readers for absorbing these ideas. How could you avoid it? Instead, she offers alternative frameworks rooted in Indigenous wisdom. What if you measured success by the strength of your relationships rather than your bank balance? What if rest wasn’t laziness but essential to wellbeing? What if there were multiple valid ways to be in the world? This stuff isn’t abstract philosophy. It has real implications for how you live day to day.

The Body Keeps Score: Reconnecting With Physical Wisdom

One of the most powerful sections of Living Resistance deals with the body. Curtice writes about how colonialism and trauma often manifest as disconnection from our physical selves. Many cultures teach people, especially women and marginalised groups, to ignore their bodies’ signals. You learn to push through exhaustion, to smile when you’re uncomfortable, to make yourself small. Your body becomes something to manage rather than listen to. Curtice advocates for rebuilding trust with your body. This means paying attention to physical sensations, recognising when something feels wrong even if you can’t articulate why, and honouring your body’s needs rather than overriding them. She connects this to spiritual practice as well. For many Indigenous cultures, spirituality isn’t separate from physical existence. It’s grounded in the earth, in the rhythms of nature, in the wisdom of the body. This contrasts sharply with Western religious traditions that often treat the body as something to transcend. The invitation here is to stop treating your body as an enemy or a machine. What if your physical sensations are actually valuable information? What if rest, pleasure, and connection to the earth are spiritual practices?

Community Over Individualism: Finding Your People

Western culture loves the story of the rugged individual who succeeds through sheer determination. Curtice offers a different model: we become ourselves in community. This doesn’t mean you can’t be independent. It means recognising that you’re shaped by relationships and that liberation is collective, not individual. You can’t truly be free while others remain oppressed. Curtice writes beautifully about finding her community, people who saw her fully and didn’t ask her to choose between different parts of her identity. She describes the relief of not having to translate yourself, of being with people who get it. But she’s also honest about how hard it is to build this kind of community. It requires vulnerability, the willingness to be seen, and the courage to keep showing up even when it’s messy. One key insight: your community doesn’t have to look like traditional models. It might not be based on geography or even shared identity markers. What matters is mutual recognition, support, and the freedom to be authentic.

Grief as a Doorway: Honouring What’s Been Lost

This is where Living Resistance gets really real. Curtice doesn’t shy away from grief, the necessary mourning for what was taken, what was never given, what can’t be recovered. For Indigenous people, this includes massive cultural loss, languages that vanished, traditions that were forcibly suppressed, land that was stolen. But everyone carries losses, even if they’re less visible. Maybe you grieve the childhood you didn’t have, the acceptance you never received, the versions of yourself you had to hide. Maybe you’re mourning what the world could be if it weren’t so broken. Curtice argues that you have to feel this grief. You can’t jump straight to healing or forgiveness. The pain deserves acknowledgment. The losses deserve to be named. But here’s what’s interesting: she frames grief as part of living resistance. When you grieve what was taken, you’re refusing to pretend it doesn’t matter. You’re insisting that what was lost had value. That’s an act of resistance against systems that want you to forget, to move on, to stop making a fuss. There’s also something about grief that connects you to others. When you allow yourself to feel your own losses, you develop empathy for others’ pain. You recognise your shared humanity.

Sacred Activism: When Resistance Becomes Spiritual Practice

Curtice bridges spirituality and activism in ways that feel fresh and necessary. She rejects the false choice between inner work and outer action, between personal healing and systemic change. Living resistance, in her framework, is inherently spiritual. When you honour your authentic self, when you build genuine community, when you challenge harmful systems, you’re participating in sacred work. This isn’t about adopting any particular religious tradition (though Curtice draws on her own Christian faith and Indigenous spirituality). It’s about recognising that the work of justice, of healing, of truth-telling has spiritual dimensions. She warns against spiritual bypassing, the tendency to use spiritual concepts to avoid dealing with real-world problems. You can’t meditate away oppression. You can’t positive-think your way out of systemic injustice. But you also can’t sustain resistance without spiritual grounding. You need practices that connect you to something larger, that remind you why the work matters, that help you process the inevitable burnout and disappointment. The integration she offers feels particularly relevant now, when people are hungry for meaning and purpose but often find traditional institutions lacking.

Language and Power: Speaking Your Truth

Curtice pays careful attention to language throughout Living Resistance. She examines how the words we use shape our thinking and how dominant groups control narratives through language. This shows up in obvious ways, like slurs and stereotypes. But it’s also subtler. It’s in whose stories get told and believed, whose experiences are considered universal versus particular, which ways of speaking are deemed professional or educated. For Curtice, reclaiming language means several things. It means learning words from her ancestral language, connecting to Indigenous ways of naming the world. It means choosing her words carefully, not defaulting to the easiest or most acceptable phrasing. It also means finding her voice as a writer and speaker, learning to say difficult truths even when they make people uncomfortable. She writes about the fear of speaking up, of saying the wrong thing, of being dismissed or attacked. But silence has its own costs. When you don’t speak your truth, you stay invisible. You collude in your own erasure. Finding your voice, however imperfectly, is part of living resistance. This doesn’t mean you have to be confrontational or loud. It means being honest. It means not shrinking your experience to make others comfortable. It means trusting that your perspective matters.

Ancestral Wisdom: Connecting to What Came Before

Curtice writes movingly about connecting to her Potawatomi ancestors and how that connection grounds her resistance. This might feel less relevant if you don’t have a clear ethnic or cultural heritage to draw from. But the principle applies more broadly. Your ancestors don’t have to be literal relatives (though they can be). They’re also the people who came before you in the struggles you now face. The artists who made work when it wasn’t safe or profitable. The activists who fought for rights you now take for granted. The thinkers who asked questions that opened new possibilities. Connecting to these predecessors reminds you that you’re part of a larger story. You’re not starting from scratch. Others have walked similar paths, faced similar challenges, discovered wisdom that can guide you now. This connection can also be healing. When you learn about ancestors who survived terrible things, who maintained their dignity and humanity despite oppression, you realise you come from strength. You carry resilience in your very bones. Curtice practices this connection through ritual, through learning traditional stories, through spending time on ancestral land. Your practices might look different. Maybe it’s reading the words of predecessors, visiting places that matter to your heritage, or learning skills that connect you to the past.

Land and Belonging: Remembering Where You Are

One of the most challenging aspects of Living Resistance for non-Indigenous readers is Curtice’s emphasis on land. She writes about Indigenous relationships to land, how place shapes identity, how displacement is a form of violence. For Indigenous people in colonised countries, there’s a specific and painful history here. But Curtice’s reflections invite everyone to consider their relationship to place. Where are you? Whose land is it? What’s the history of the ground beneath your feet? Most people in Western cultures move through space without much awareness of these questions. Curtice argues that developing a relationship with land is both spiritual practice and political act. When you pay attention to the specific place you inhabit, when you learn its history and ecology, you become harder to manipulate with abstract narratives about progress or development. You also remember that you’re not separate from nature. You’re part of an ecosystem. Your wellbeing is connected to the wellbeing of the land, water, air, and other beings around you. This can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re living on stolen land (which is most of us in places like the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). Curtice doesn’t let anyone off the hook, but she also doesn’t traffic in paralysing guilt. What matters is awareness, acknowledgment, and action. Learn whose land you’re on. Support Indigenous sovereignty. Make choices that honour the earth. Build relationships with the specific place you inhabit.

The Practice of Presence: Being Here, Now

Throughout Living Resistance, Curtice returns to the importance of presence. Not presence as a vague spiritual concept, but as a concrete practice of being fully where you are. This is harder than it sounds. How often are you actually present? Not thinking about the past or future, not scrolling through your phone, not running through your to-do list. Just here, aware, alive. For Curtice, presence is resistance because dominant culture constantly pulls you out of the moment. Capitalism needs you worried about the future so you’ll keep consuming. Social media needs you dissatisfied with the present so you’ll keep scrolling. Trauma keeps you stuck in the past. Living resistance means reclaiming your attention. It means deciding what deserves your presence and giving it fully. This doesn’t require hours of meditation (though it can include that). It’s noticing the sensation of water on your hands when you wash dishes. It’s actually tasting your food instead of eating mindlessly. It’s making eye contact with the person you’re talking to instead of thinking about your response. Presence also allows you to notice your own experience more clearly. You can’t live authentically if you’re never actually present to your own life. You end up following scripts without realising it. Curtice connects this to Indigenous practices of observation and attention. Traditional knowledge comes from generations of people paying incredibly close attention to patterns in nature, changes in weather, the behaviour of animals and plants. What if you brought that quality of attention to your own life? What might you notice?

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10 Practical Tips for Living Your Resistance

Now let’s get into the concrete stuff. How do you actually apply Curtice’s wisdom? Here are ten practical ways to start living resistance in your daily life.

1. Identify One Narrative You’ve Accepted Without Question

Start small. Pick one story you tell about yourself or one belief you hold about how things should be. Ask: Where did this come from? Is it actually true? Does it serve me? Example: Maybe you believe you’re “not a morning person.” Is that objectively true, or is it a story you’ve told so long it became real? What if you experimented with a different narrative? How to implement: Take ten minutes with a journal. Write down three beliefs you have about yourself. For each one, ask: “Who told me this first?” and “What evidence supports or contradicts this?” Don’t try to change everything at once. Just notice. Awareness is the first step.

2. Practice Body Check-Ins Three Times Daily

Set reminders on your phone for morning, midday, and evening. When the reminder goes off, pause and scan your body. Example: You might notice your shoulders are up around your ears. You might realise you’re holding your breath. You might discover you’re hungry but you’ve been ignoring it. How to implement: Start at your head and move down to your feet. Notice any tension, pain, or discomfort. Notice what feels good. Don’t judge, just observe. Then make one small adjustment based on what you noticed. Lower your shoulders. Take three deep breaths. Drink water. Stretch. Do this for a week. You’ll be amazed at what you discover about your habitual patterns.

3. Learn Whose Land You’re On

Find out the Indigenous people whose traditional territory you occupy. This matters even if you’re not in a colonised country, there are always original inhabitants. Example: If you’re in London, you’re on land where Celtic tribes lived before Roman invasion. In Sydney, you’re on Gadigal land. In New York, it’s Lenape land. How to implement: Search “whose land am I on” plus your location. Many places have land acknowledgment resources. Read about the people whose territory you occupy. Learn at least three facts about their history and culture. Then take one action. Donate to an Indigenous organisation. Attend a cultural event. Share what you learned with someone else.

4. Create a ‘No Translation’ Zone

Identify one relationship or space where you can show up fully as yourself without code-switching or performing. Example: Maybe it’s a monthly dinner with a particular friend where you both agree to radical honesty. Maybe it’s a creative practice where you give yourself permission to make whatever you want without worrying if anyone else will understand. How to implement: Talk to someone you trust about creating this space together. Or if it’s a solo practice, set clear boundaries around it. This is your time to be completely authentic. Notice what emerges when you’re not translating yourself for anyone. Gradually, the freedom you feel in this space will influence how you show up elsewhere.

5. Establish One Non-Negotiable Boundary

Pick something that’s important to your wellbeing and make it non-negotiable, at least for a month. Example: Maybe you don’t answer work emails after 7pm. Maybe you don’t attend events that require you to pretend to be someone you’re not. Maybe you stop explaining yourself to people who’ve shown they won’t understand. How to implement: Choose your boundary. Write it down. Tell at least one person about it for accountability. Then enforce it, even when it’s uncomfortable. You’ll probably feel guilty at first. That’s normal. The guilt is just old programming telling you that other people’s comfort matters more than your wellbeing. It doesn’t.

6. Start a Grief Practice

Create space to acknowledge what you’ve lost, what was taken, what never was. Example: Light a candle once a week and speak aloud (or write down) what you’re mourning. It might be big losses like a death or a divorce. It might be smaller things like the friend who didn’t show up, the opportunity you missed, the version of yourself you had to hide. How to implement: Set aside 20 minutes weekly. Create a small ritual around it, something that feels meaningful to you. Let yourself actually feel the sadness without trying to fix it or move on too quickly. You might cry. That’s good. You might feel angry. That’s also good. All feelings are information.

7. Find Your People Through Shared Values, Not Just Shared Identity

Look for community based on how people show up, not just what they look like or where they’re from. Example: You might find deep connection with people who don’t share your cultural background but who share your commitment to honesty, creativity, or justice. Or you might find that some people who look like you actually reinforce the very systems you’re trying to resist. How to implement: Make a list of your core values, the things that matter most to you. Then look around at your current relationships. Who actually shares these values in their actions, not just their words? Invest more time in those relationships. Pull back from connections that drain you or require you to compromise your values.

8. Choose One Practice That Connects You to Something Larger

This could be spiritual practice, creative practice, time in nature, volunteer work, anything that reminds you you’re part of something bigger than yourself. Example: Maybe you take a walk in the same natural space every week, paying attention to how it changes with the seasons. Maybe you learn about the night sky. Maybe you volunteer with an organisation doing work you believe in. How to implement: Commit to this practice for three months. Put it in your calendar like any other important appointment. Notice what shifts in you as you maintain this practice over time. The point isn’t to become perfect or enlightened. It’s to have something that grounds you, that reminds you why resistance matters.

9. Speak One Truth You’ve Been Afraid to Say

Identify something true that you’ve been avoiding saying, then find an appropriate way to say it. Example: Maybe you need to tell a family member you’re not coming to that event. Maybe you need to admit to a friend that their comment hurt you. Maybe you need to speak up in a meeting when something unfair is happening. How to implement: Start by writing down the truth as clearly as you can. What exactly do you need to say? Then identify one person who needs to hear it. Practice saying it out loud to yourself or a trusted friend first. Then say it. You don’t have to be perfect or eloquent. You just have to be honest.

10. Make One Choice Based on Your Actual Values, Not Fear or Obligation

Think about a decision you’re facing. Make it based on what actually aligns with your values rather than what you think you “should” do. Example: Maybe you turn down a job that pays more because it requires you to compromise your integrity. Maybe you say no to social obligations that deplete you. Maybe you spend money on something that feeds your soul even though it’s not “practical.” How to implement: When facing a decision, ask yourself: “What would I choose if I weren’t afraid? If I didn’t care what people thought? If I only considered what’s actually good for me and aligned with my values?” Then do that thing. See what happens. Living resistance isn’t about making your entire life over in one dramatic gesture. It’s about making small, consistent choices that honour who you actually are rather than who you’re supposed to be.

Why This Book Matters Now

We’re living through a time of massive change and upheaval. Old systems are crumbling, new possibilities are emerging, and people are hungry for something more authentic than what dominant culture offers. Living Resistance provides a framework for navigating this moment. It offers a way to stay grounded in your truth while engaging with a world that’s often hostile to that truth. It shows how personal healing and social justice are intertwined, how spirituality and activism belong together. Curtice doesn’t offer easy answers or quick fixes. She offers something better: an invitation to show up fully, to honour your complexity, to resist systems that would diminish you, and to build the kind of life and world you actually want to live in. The book speaks particularly powerfully to anyone who’s felt caught between worlds, who’s struggled to integrate different parts of their identity, who’s tired of choosing between authenticity and acceptance. But honestly, her message is for everyone. We all absorb harmful narratives. We all live under systems that limit our freedom. We all have work to do to become more fully ourselves.

The Ongoing Journey

Here’s what I love most about Living Resistance: Curtice doesn’t pretend she has it all figured out. She shares her ongoing struggles, her doubts, the times she gets it wrong. This makes the book feel honest and accessible rather than preachy. Living resistance is a practice, not a destination. You don’t read this book, implement the tips, and achieve enlightenment. You return to these practices again and again as you encounter new challenges and grow into deeper understanding. Some days you’ll show up fully authentic and aligned with your values. Other days you’ll code-switch, compromise, or cave to pressure. That’s human. What matters is that you keep returning to the question: How can I live more aligned with who I actually am? The work is both intensely personal and deeply communal. You have to do your own inner work, examine your own assumptions, heal your own wounds. But you can’t do it alone. You need community, connection, people who see you and hold you accountable. And the work is never just about you. As Curtice makes clear, your liberation is bound up with others’ liberation. When you resist systems of domination in your own life, you contribute to dismantling those systems for everyone.

Final Thoughts

Living Resistance is one of those rare books that meets you where you are while inviting you to go deeper. Curtice writes with vulnerability and wisdom, sharing her own journey while leaving space for yours. The book works on multiple levels. If you’re just beginning to question dominant narratives and explore your authentic self, it provides a gentle introduction. If you’re further along in your journey, it offers nuance and depth that will challenge and inspire you. What makes it particularly valuable is how Curtice integrates different ways of knowing. She draws on Indigenous wisdom, Christian theology, poetry, personal narrative, and political analysis. The result feels holistic rather than fragmented, addressing your whole self rather than just your intellect. Reading Living Resistance won’t solve all your problems. But it might shift how you understand those problems. It might give you language for experiences you couldn’t quite name before. It might help you see possibilities you didn’t know existed. And if you’re ready to stop living according to someone else’s script and start living resistance, this book is an excellent place to begin.

Test Your Understanding: Living Resistance Quiz

Ready to see how well you absorbed the key concepts from Living Resistance? Take this quiz to test your understanding.

According to Curtice, what is the primary meaning of “living resistance”? a) Participating in political protests b) Daily work of refusing to let dominant narratives define who you are c) Disconnecting from society completely d) Fighting against all forms of authority
Why does Curtice emphasise the importance of grief in the resistance journey? a) To keep people stuck in the past b) To make people feel worse about their situation c) Because acknowledging losses is an act of resistance against systems that want you to forget d) To justify anger and resentment
What does Curtice mean by “decolonising your mind”? a) Forgetting all Western knowledge b) Examining and questioning frameworks rooted in colonial thinking c) Moving to an Indigenous community d) Rejecting all aspects of modern life
How does Curtice view the relationship between personal healing and social justice? a) Personal healing should come first, then activism b) Social justice is more important than personal work c) They are separate and unrelated d) They are intertwined and should happen together
What does Curtice say about presence as a form of resistance? a) Meditation is the only way to achieve presence b) Reclaiming your attention from systems that pull you out of the moment is resistance c) Presence is too passive to be considered resistance d) Only spiritual people can truly be present
According to the book, what role does community play in resistance? a) Community isn’t important; individuals must resist alone b) We become ourselves in community, and liberation is collective c) Community is only useful for organised activism d) Only people from the same background can form true community
How does Curtice describe the relationship between body and spirituality? a) The body must be transcended to achieve spirituality b) Spirituality is grounded in physical existence and bodily wisdom c) Body and spirit are separate domains d) Physical needs are obstacles to spiritual growth
What does Curtice say about speaking your truth? a) You should always be confrontational and loud b) Silence is sometimes the best option c) Being honest and not shrinking your experience is important, even imperfectly d) Only share your truth with people who already agree with you
Why does Curtice emphasise connection to land? a) Everyone should become farmers b) Understanding place, history, and our relationship to land is both spiritual and political c) Only Indigenous people need to think about land d) Connection to land is purely symbolic
What does Curtice suggest about the process of living resistance? a) It’s a one-time achievement b) It’s an ongoing practice you return to repeatedly c) It’s only for people from marginalised backgrounds d) It requires perfection to be meaningful

Unlock More Secrets on Mind Set in Stone Podcast 🎙️

If you’re eager to dive even deeper into Living Resistance by Kaitlin B. Curtice and uncover more practical ways to apply its teachings, tune into the Mind Set in Stone Podcast! We explore the principles of authenticity, resistance, and personal transformation in a way that’s both insightful and genuinely honest. Listen now on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube to start your journey towards reclaiming your power and living according to your actual values, not someone else’s script!

Quiz Answers

b) Daily work of refusing to let dominant narratives define who you are – Living resistance is about the ongoing, often invisible work of maintaining authenticity in the face of systems that try to define you.
c) Because acknowledging losses is an act of resistance against systems that want you to forget – Curtice argues that grief itself is resistance because it refuses to pretend that what was taken doesn’t matter.
b) Examining and questioning frameworks rooted in colonial thinking – Decolonising your mind means recognising and challenging invisible assumptions about how the world should work.
d) They are intertwined and should happen together – Curtice explicitly rejects the false choice between inner work and outer action, showing how they support each other.
b) Reclaiming your attention from systems that pull you out of the moment is resistance – Presence is resistance because dominant culture constantly pulls you out of the present moment.
b) We become ourselves in community, and liberation is collective – Curtice emphasises that we develop our identity in relationship and that true freedom cannot be individual.
b) Spirituality is grounded in physical existence and bodily wisdom – Curtice draws on Indigenous traditions that see body and spirit as integrated rather than separate.
c) Being honest and not shrinking your experience is important, even imperfectly – Finding your voice means being truthful rather than necessarily being loud or confrontational.
b) Understanding place, history, and our relationship to land is both spiritual and political – Curtice argues that developing a relationship with land connects us to history, ecology, and systems of power.
b) It’s an ongoing practice you return to repeatedly – Living resistance is a continuous practice, not a one-time achievement, and requires returning to core principles as you grow and face new challenges.

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The Revolutionary Practice That Turns Everyday Life Into Radical Resistance

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