"Reactance" is a fancy psychology term for a concept you're probably familiar with.

It's that thing where someone tells you what to do and it makes you want to NOT do it.

It's a reaction to feeling controlled or restricted.

It's your brain screaming, "You're not the boss of me!"

The tricky thing is, we can experience reactance even when we are the ones telling ourselves what to do. The more harshly you tell yourself to do the thing, the less likely you are to do it.

A little patience and softness can go a long way.