What is Change? Why do we resist Changes?

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As I reflect on my life, I see many changes. I grew up when cars had fins; now they are self-driving; soon they will be flying. My first tv was a black & white box teetered to a physical cable at home; now we can watch anything we want wherever we are…on our phone. I grow old. I am a different person now from when I was 20, 30, 40, 50 & 60. Heraclitus famously expressed the idea that “the only constant in life is change”.

And yet, when asked what music I am listening to lately, I realize I have been listening mostly to music from the 50s, 60s and 70s. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Whether we like or want them or not, changes happen. And we like to tell ourselves and others that we are adaptable people, flexible and modern, contemporary.

And yet, fear of change is strong; it requires you to accept new ideas, new technology that we are not familiar with: new cultures, new people who are different from us; that’s difficult because our mental evolution requires us to fear and suspect people and things that are alien to us because they may pose a threat to us. To change, we often have to shut down that part of our brain, our biases, fear, gut feelings, our survival instincts, all the emotions we believe have served us well in our lives. In spite of our understanding the need to change, our desire to preserves is equally strong and compelling to us.

So, what is change to you? Do you embrace change easily? Why do we resist some changes and not others? What types of changes do you accept more easily and what changes do you find more difficult to cope with? How do you manage change? Why change? What is change really all about?

Change can be both good and bad; it is inevitable. “Nothing endures but change", "You cannot step twice into the same river". These quotes emphasize that everything is in a state of perpetual flux, and that even seemingly permanent things are constantly changing. At the end of the day, how we embrace change will make all the difference.