3 Reasons People Resist Change

Resistance to change varies from person to person and from situation to situation. Some people are more accepting of change, learn to adapt quickly, and enjoy change. Others don’t want changes of any kind, in any way, and won’t change anything at all if they can prevent it. What’s interesting is we can recognize this in other people’s lives, but when it comes to our own, sometimes we don’t even realize we are being resistant to change. Often, we resist change because we fear the unknown.

You have probably heard the expression, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.” Some people choose to resist change and go with a known situation, even if it’s not the best choice. ?

For example, consider a college student choosing which classes to take next semester. A required biology class is offered Monday mornings at 8:00am or Thursday evenings at 6:00pm. The student has worked with the Monday morning professor before and knows passing that class would be easy. The Thursday evening class fits the student’s schedule much better, but the student thinks “better safe than sorry” and enrolls for the known professor’s class on Monday mornings. To avoid an unknown professor, the student re-arranges his or her entire semester.

If we are resistant to change for the sake of keeping things the same, we make the mistake of missing out in life. We stay in jobs too long. We stay in relationships too long. We stay in places too long. We become stagnant.

A few years back, Mack and I moved from the house we had been living in for 13 years. It was a good move and an exciting new chapter for us, but it was a little intimidating to be moving to a new home, in a new city, in a new state, without most of the comfortable routines I had set up over the years. Where to grocery shop, which roads to take to avoid traffic, where I ran, where to buy gas, what restaurants to eat at, where to bank at, it all changed.

I found myself fighting a sense of mild panic at the thought of just how much life was about to change. It would have been very easy to focus on all the negative things about moving instead of all the positive things.

Some people, myself included, are hardwired to appreciate more structure, stability, and security than others. However, I’ve learned not to resist change because with change comes opportunity.

Nearly everyone experiences some level of resistance to change in some dimension of life. Maybe, it’s not moving to a new city that gets you uncomfortable. Maybe, it’s changing careers or changing what brand of shoe you like to wear, but nearly all of us have experienced resistance at some point or another.

Sometimes, resistance is based on a valid reason – I don’t like to change the brand of running shoes I buy simply because I had some not so great experiences with other brands. Now, I only buy the brand I like, and I don’t experiment. But, it’s certainly possible I’m missing out on an even better brand simply because I don’t want to try something new and risk something worse than what I have now.

Here are three reasons some of us resist change:

1)???? It’s not comfortable. Anytime we are changing, we must get outside our comfort zone. We leave behind a comfortable, familiar setting and find ourselves dealing with a lot of unknowns. It’s like buying a new sofa. The new one is cleaner, nicer, fresher, firmer, and softer. The old one is worn, lumpy, torn, and stained. But, it fits you better than the new one. Eventually, you get used to the new one and don’t think about it anymore, but it takes a little time to adjust and get comfortable again.

2)??? It’s not easy. Anytime we are changing, we must put more energy into the situation. Change jobs, and you must learn a new set of skills or maybe a new computer system. Change cities like Mack and I did, and you must spend much more time thinking about where you are going and what road to take to get there. Change requires more energy and effort than the status quo because your brain must unlearn and relearn.?

3)??? It requires risk. Most of us have a natural aversion to risk. I’m talking about the average person here, not someone addicted to the endorphin rush that comes with some activities, like Nik Wallenda walking across a high wire. As a rule, we don’t mind risking often if the risk is small or low, and we don’t mind risking as much when we stand to gain big. But, we don’t naturally like to take risks if the odds aren’t good, or we stand to lose a lot. Change brings about some risk because we might not like the new situation as much as we like, or did like, the old one.