How Can You Change When You Hate Change?

Positive ways to look at change and why you shouldn’t avoid it

You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone. Change begins at the end of your comfort zone. — Roy T. Bennett

How many times have you complained about something in your life and wished that it was different, whether it be your job, income, living situation, relationship, weight, etc?

It’s easy to wish your life were different or that your circumstances were better. It’s much harder to do something to change them.

Because for many of us, change is very hard.

We’re creatures of habit. Sure, some people are out there living life on the edge, traveling the world, or doing something where they face new challenges every day.

But most of us settle for going to the same job every day, coming home to a place we own or rent every night, and living a fairly scheduled life day after day.

Why?

Because familiar is safe. Familiar is predictable. Familiar feels like home.

The trouble with comfort zones is that they’re just so…comfortable.

Comfort zones aren’t bad per se. It’s good to have things around you that are familiar and ground you in life.

But if we get too comfortable, we sink down into the soft, squishy security blanket of habit and get too lazy to stick our toes out again.

And if we’re not doing anything different, nothing will ever change.

Your finances won’t fix themselves, your relationships won’t improve on their own, and that dream home won’t build itself.

It’s not enough to wake up and smell the coffee. Somebody has to get up, measure out the coffee, pour the water in, and press the button.

And that somebody has to be you.

The 2 kinds of change

Inevitable change

When I was growing up, I hated change. I did everything I could to avoid it. I was afraid of it.

But it still happened.

Many, many things happened in my life that I had no control over. In those instances, the only control I did have was how I reacted to them.

When change is forced on us, it knocks us out of our comfort zone. It kicks us out of our cozy little nest and tests our wings whether we’re ready or not.

Voluntary change

This is when we have control of the situation. Deciding to change careers, get healthier, or move to a different state or country are all examples of voluntary changes.

Making a conscious decision to change doesn’t mean it’s any easier than something that’s forced on you. It can be terrifying.

Regardless of whether we initiate the change or if life does it for us, it does two things.

It makes us face ourselves

When we’re coasting along on auto-pilot, self-reflection isn’t usually a regular stop on our route. If the system ain’t broke, why bother?

But when tragedy hits, we often stop and take stock of our lives. We question our priorities, our idea of security, and what we’re doing with our lives.

You may have been going along thinking you were doing great financially, then you lose your job and realize you didn’t have enough savings put aside for an emergency. How are you going to handle it?

The grooves we get into seem to work until they’re challenged.

When you make a conscious decision to look at things in your life and how you could improve them without an outside nudge, you are affecting change upon yourself. That is usually much less traumatic than change forced upon you.

It lets us grow

I emphasize lets because growth doesn’t happen automatically. YOU are in charge of how you react to things, of every choice you make. You can choose to use an opportunity to improve yourself, or you can choose to stay where you are mentally, spiritually, or physically.

Change gives us a chance to step out of our comfort zone and challenges our ideas of what is safe and best for us.

Growth only comes with challenges.

We tend to view change as always being a bad thing, but it can lead to better things. It can lead to a better job, a good relationship, healing, and less stress. It requires a mindset shift to be open to how it can help us.

Don’t be afraid that things won’t always stay the same or that your life may not unfold like you planned.

Whatever changes come your way, take advantage of the chance to grow.

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