Resisting Change is Far Worse Than Change Itself

Why are we so afraid of change when life is so full of it? It’s the only thing that’s constant. It’s something we can be sure about. We’re not the same person we were yesterday and, no matter how hard we try, we’re not the same person we’ll be tomorrow.

An accumulation of circumstances makes this happen, even if we don’t realize it. That’s why we must stop fearing change. Resisting new things isn’t the way we should live our lives. Now, why do we tend to think that things used to be better before?

Idealizing the past is one of our habits. It’s basically the result of the tendency we have to forget the negative aspects of things and just focus on the positive ones. That’s why we usually remember only the good aspects of our childhood. Also, if we encounter ourselves in a moment of worry and despair, we’ll most likely end up comparing what we’re living to previous moments we think were easier.

Our memory isn’t reliable since it’s always changing. In fact, memories have a sensitive period in which they can be modified according to new events. This is why we continue to sugar-coat everything and store it to use it as a comparison model every time something happens to us.

If we take what we previously discussed into account, it wouldn’t be weird for us to think that our brain was prefabricated to make us fear good and bad changes. This means that the brain likes to feel safe so any change or new experience makes it leave its comfort zone, leading to a feeling of fear. It’s logical for it to despise change, isn’t it?

On the other hand, the excess of adrenaline that we produce to be able to face changes can confuse the brain and make it associate it with feelings of distrust or anger. However, we must remember that this chemical activation helps us prepare and cope with new situations. Therefore, all changes, even the ones you fear the most, carry a certain melancholy within themselves. 

Change when you have the opportunity to

Writer, poet, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau made a very accurate statement: things don’t change, we change. The flow of life affects us and transforms us in some way. The sooner we accept it, the better it will be since it’ll help us manage the changes we encounter. That way, we won’t be stuck in the past or in the illusion of the future. We’ll finally focus on living in the present.

We’re not the same person we used to be last year. The people we love aren’t the same either. We’re all in constant change. It’s amazing to realize that, no matter how much others change, we still appreciate them no matter what. We should do the same with ourselves.

Resisting change is a weakness

Mental health relies on the person’s ability to evolve and adapt to circumstances. Keeping ourselves anchored to models and primitive schemes will only make us accumulate anguish. Therefore, we shouldn’t resist learning from our experiences and changing thanks to them.

Avoiding change manifests our desire to stay in our comfort zone where we don’t have to face our fears. Changing requires facing uncertainty and knowing that we’ll feel anxious and insecure when we do so.

On the other hand, if a person’s too reluctant to change, it can mean they don’t take responsibility for their problems. Instead, they prefer to blame everyone else for the mistakes they make. That’s definitely a lot easier than owning up to your issues. However, it keeps you from moving forward.