Why We Resist Change, Even When It’s Good For Us

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We resist change because we’re afraid of the unknown. Even though we might be unhappy with our current situation, at least we know what we’re getting. There aren’t any surprises.

We’re used to a certain brand of pain. We’re used to a certain way of living, even if it’s not an ideal way of living. But if we take a leap and make a change, there’s no telling what kind of problems could arise in the future. There’s no way to predict what the worst case scenario would even be because we’d be thrown into an entirely new situation with new people and new roles. And that’s pretty damn scary.

We resist change because we’re obsessed with the idea of timing. We don’t want to make any rash decisions. We don’t want to make a move on someone we like at the wrong time or switch career paths at the wrong time. We make excuses about why we aren’t able to start our new lives today because we feel like we’ll always have tomorrow. We feel like we have plenty of time to figure things out, to do things the right way, so we end up procrastinating. We keep putting things off and putting things off, and end up accidentally letting golden opportunities pass us by.

We resist change because we’re creatures of habit. Even though we crave adventure, we also crave consistency. We crave stability. We don’t want to uproot the lives we’ve spent years building for ourselves. We don’t want to make our days more difficult than they need to be when we could continue living a comfy, cozy (albeit unsatisfying) existence. We don’t want to risk chasing after big dreams if that means making sacrifices. We would rather settle for what we already have than risk losing everything.

We resist change because we’re stubborn. We don’t want to admit how unhappy we’ve been in our relationship or our career. We don’t want to deal with our unloaded baggage. We don’t want to dwell on what’s missing from our lives. It’s easier for us to play pretend, to act like everything is fine. It’s easier to convince ourselves this is the best it’s ever going to get and we might as well enjoy it while it lasts. It’s easier to smile and get through the day than take action and change your day.

We resist change because success is never guaranteed. If we take a risk, we could end up getting rejected. We could end up failing miserably. We could end up even more unhappy with our lives than we were in the first place. That’s why so many of us play it safe. We remain in our comfort zones. We decide it’s better to keep living the way we’ve been living than to get greedy and reach for more.

But as scary as it is to leave your old way of living behind, sometimes, change is the answer. Sometimes, change is the only way you’re going to grow.