Why We Avoid Resistance: The reason for our fear of change lies in the fact that we don't want to change. Change is uncomfortable and scary and we'd rather maintain the status quo. The status quo, for most of us, includes being rich, being secure, having enough, being healthy, being happy, having kids, etc. Although none of us are perfect, isn't it better to be happy and at peace with the way things are than to change everything just to have a little more?
If we were to ask ourselves why we resist change we might have to admit that we don't really know. Is it some innate characteristic of our being or is it something that just happened over the course of time. Perhaps it's a combination of both. I'm not sure we know the real answer. What I do know is that everyone experiences fear when asked to consider change.
One thing I've learned in business is that people fear change because they fear what is unknown. They fear change because they fear the unknown. And the unknown is always worse than the known. That's where the fear comes in.
The more we cling to the idea that we have to maintain the status quo we get stuck in a cycle of conditioning. We spend our lives protecting our present from future change. That means we get angry when others get successful. We get depressed when others fail to get successful. We get tired and angry when others succeed.
What's the result? We don't get anything. Or we get very little. Sometimes we get nothing at all. But other times we get so much that we're afraid to try new things because we're afraid to fail.
The solution? Accept change and get ready to roll up your sleeves and get involved. You have to be willing to take risks. You have to be willing to compromise. You have to have a plan and you have to follow it.
This means giving up some things and doing the things that you need to do in order to get there. For example, let's say that you want to run a marathon. You can't just get out there and start running. You have to first build up your endurance and then get into shape.
So you do some interval training and build up your endurance. Then you can go for a marathon but you need to push yourself a bit further by going longer distances. You run the next week. And so on.
In a short time you'll be feeling much better and much healthier. That's because you're following a plan and you're getting good results. But it takes discipline. And it takes taking the actions that will lead you to your desired outcome.