Are You Threatened by Change?

Regardless of the aspect of our lives we want to improve, getting ahead requires change.

Considering a lot of us are usually aware of this on a conscious level, one would expect that we warmly embrace the opportunities to effect changes whenever possible.

Surprisingly though, more often than not, we tend to react adversely to change. Rather than welcome it, we actually feel threatened by the prospect of change and subconsciously resist it.

A major reason for this has to do with our comfort zones. For most of us, our lives consist of a cyclical pattern of thoughts and actions. We have developed certain habits and feel set and secure in them.

It is quite easy to think the same thoughts today as we did yesterday, a couple days ago and further backward. Changing our thoughts requires creativity which seems hard so we take the easy way out and simply recycle our thoughts.

So also with our actions. It takes effort to form a habit and even more effort to change it. Hence, having formed a particular routine of actions, we often stick to that, everyday and possibly forever.

These cycle of thoughts and actions combine to make up our comfort zone. We have grown accustomed to this narrative. We feel safe in this zone. We fear the potential loss of control that change can bring.

Tied to a reluctance to leave our comfort zones, another reason why we feel threatened by change and why we offer resistance to it is fear of the unknown. With change comes the potential to encounter the unexpected, to experience new things and developments. This is scary to us. Our current circumstances and situations may not be good, they may in fact be terrible but, we prefer these because we are familiar with them and will rather remain in that situation than deal with the unknown factor of change.

Yet again, we are threatened by change when we are concerned about our adequacy to deal with it. We do not want to look incompetent, silly or unintelligent. This often occurs if this change is technological in nature. We might outwardly express doubts about the effectiveness of the changes or question if certain changes really are an improvement. Deep down however, we are just resisting due to insecurities on our abilities to deal with the transitions.

Further, some others are generally thrown off by sudden novelty. They react badly to change when they feel they haven't been well informed in advance of forthcoming changes. When things are made different than they are used to, they get uncomfortable. Rather than adapt, they resist. These people may also view change as being left behind. They may have been institutes of the current status quo and will be defensive about steps in new directions, interpreting this, albeit wrongly, that they've been deemed ineffective, inefficient or wrong.

Resistance to change isn't a completely detrimental reaction. It is usually a safety mechanism installed in us that informs us that we may be at risk in one way or the other. The key though lies in recognising when this impulse actively stops us from moving forward or developing. And it can. Resisting change can mean we don’t adopt a healthy diet, appreciate technological advancements, move towards better opportunities or refuse the advice and assistance of someone who’s trying to support us.

In this regards, we have to be aware. It may be frustrating and uncomfortable to embrace change sometimes, but we should constantly try to see the big picture. Whenever we see some existing or upcoming change, we should try to see how we can integrate that change now or in the future to better our lives regardless of how uncomfortable we may feel at the moment.

This big picture approach helps us work through the initial inertia. Even as we feel anxious when a change is imminent, our vision of how these changes will move us closer to our goals and aspirations will assist us deal with these feelings of discomfort. We will be better positioned to transition from the initial denial, anger, confusion and crisis to an acceptance and confidence of the new situations, habits and developments.

Irrespective of our initial reluctances, one of the advantages we have as higher animals is a well developed ability to adapt to new systems, environment and developments. Though we first may exhibit resistance in several ways, with time we can accept and grow into the new situation.

In relating this with our personal growth, we should realise that we are constantly evolving. That is, the person we are today is not the person we'll be in a year. We change, we become new people. By extension, the person who will accomplish our goals is not the person we are now looking at in the mirror. That future person will be a changed person. This person will know things and people we currently don’t know. He/she will have skills we currently don’t have and be better at certain skills we already do have.

We should already be aware of our goals and ambitions. More importantly, we should be aware of the changes we have to make, of the person we will have to become to achieve these goals.

As stated initially, barring the rare exceptions, change and personal growth are always necessary for improvement and personal achievement. We should of course focus on our goals, but we should also focus on the changes we'll have to make to enable us accomplish these.

Being creatures of habit and routine, there will always be some resistance to change. It’s a safety mechanism and can never be completely eliminated. But if we hold on to the idea that we will adapt, eventually, then we can become more flexible. We would know that we can embrace this change and survive.

Because ultimately, the lower our initial resistance to positive change, the faster we can adapt and be well on our way to improvement.