FEAR OF CHANGE: HOW TO DEAL WITH IT?

miedo al cambio

Many times we have our life organized with a daily routine, which we may like more or less, but something happens that makes us change. It can be a change of home, job or even a family situation. The feeling that invades us in these situations is not usually positive. Most people are afraid of change, but it is an inevitable thing that, with or without fear, it will happen anyway. So, it is better to learn to face these types of situations so that they happen in the best possible way and that they do not shock us. 

Sometimes the change does not come from the outside, but there is a voice inside us that encourages us to change some aspect of our life. When this happens, we must listen to her and pay attention to her, because it is for our own well-being.

Whatever the reason, there are a series of tips that we can put into practice to overcome this fear.

First of all, we must know that the origin of this fear is biological. Human beings have been living in caves and poorly adapted places for more years than they have been in cities, which have fewer risks. Therefore, our brain is more prepared to react to threats such as encountering a wild animal, than to a change of legislation. We are programmed to survive, so these kinds of changes are harder for us to assimilate. Although it is not impossible.

Another aspect that makes this adaptation a little more difficult is that there are more changes around us than we are capable of assimilating. So many things happen and so fast that it is impossible to keep up with everything. We have to do it little by little to adapt correctly, otherwise we will fail.

Tips for not being afraid to change your situation:

When we are afraid of change, we feel many emotions at the same time. From anxiety, to fear, to the unknown. Sadness is usually the most general feeling, because we feel an emptiness inside us, we feel bad about rebuilding our life or because something has changed and we cannot do anything. Although they are not always negative, sometimes they are good. Whatever they are, they will help us adapt to our new situation. 

One of the things we must learn is to say goodbye. When this must happen, we think that nothing (or a part of our life) will ever be the same. And it will probably be true. But that means we must learn to let it go and embrace the new things to come, because they will surely be better.

Another thing we must do is train the mind. The brain is a muscle that needs to be exercised on a daily basis. There are many ways to do it: solving math problems, reading for a while, having a debate with someone, going down a new path… We can do little challenges to entertain and strengthen it. The more we know, the less fear of change we will have. 

Something very important that we must do to make the situation as less dramatic as possible is to relativize the problem. Many times we give too much importance to things and they are not really that serious. So we can dedicate the effort it deserves. No more than necessary, otherwise we will end up exhausted without any need. A very good exercise that we can do to learn to relativize things is by learning history. When we look at the problems that people faced years ago and how they were able to move forward, we will see that we can do it as well and there is hope!

You have to disconnect to connect with yourself. By this we mean that we live in a world that is too connected, we are connected almost 24 hours a day and this affects us a lot. The best thing is to disconnect a bit from social networks to connect with ourselves, our family, friends… This way we will learn more things, we will integrate them better and we will be able to think more clearly.  

Due to this overexposure, it may seem difficult to put aside the phone. We can start with a couple of hours a day before going to sleep. Later we can try to spend a whole weekend without looking at the phone. What do you think about this challenge?

You must never lose your confidence, everything has a solution, it may take longer to arrive but it does. We must trust even if it seems impossible that we are able to overcome the fear of change and try to adapt. Everything passes, even the fear of change. We just need time and patience.

As you can see, overcoming the fear of change is possible. You just have to trust, learn constantly, be patient, find your corner of peace and relativize the situation.