Learning to Cope with Change and Stress
Stress and change are scary, especially with uncertainty. Change is particularly scary. Change is new, and we as humans don’t tend to like new things. We like to stay comfortable and in our own routine. However, change is just a part of life. Nothing will ever remain constant for your entire life, not even you. So learning how to deal with change and the stress that comes along with change is extremely important for our mental health.
Why is Change Scary and How do I Cope with Change?
“We fear change because we can’t anticipate the outcome. However, staying put can be riskier than changing. Whether it’s in your career or a relationship, you risk being left behind if you don’t continue to grow,” states PsychologyToday.
Change is something we oftentimes can’t predict or control. Because of that, we tend to get very anxious and stressed. It’s like a paradox, although we reject uncertainty, we have the ability to change and evolve. We fear change, but because its something we regularly deal with we have to accept it.
The Physiology Behind Change
“Your brain likes being in control. The hunger for certainty is one of the brain’s five functions. Uncertainty generates a strong alert response in our limbic system; that’s why we worry. That’s why we speculate—we’d rather create a fictional story than not know what will happen,” states PsychologyToday.
The Physiology Behind Fear
Fear is a natural response to physical or emotional danger. Fear is a strong emotion, one that can help determine if you’re in physical danger. Fear is what motivates fight or flight responses. We can also experience fear during things like big presentations or on a first date. Though this is a much milder form of fear than say if you were in an emotional or physical situation where you fear your life, or someone else’s life or even livelihood in danger.
Stress and Change
Stress is another common emotion to feel with change. Much like fear, stress is manageable, most people experience stress. Stress has the ability to break a person down if you let it. There are tons of ways to relieve stress, going for a walk always helps me calm down and relives my stress!
At the end of the day almost everyone is afraid of change, and who could blame them. It’s scary. But at the end of the day, you make the ultimate decision.
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