The Fear of Change – Harnessing the Power of Your Mind

01 Aug The Fear of Change – Harnessing the Power of Your Mind

When it comes to a health quest or nutrition protocol, what I find happens is we come into a new version of ourselves with high expectations that something is going to be radically different because we are motivated to make a change. Oftentimes, that change comes from pain that drives us to make some kind of shift in our life.

 

When we think about New Year’s resolutions, if you’ve ever been there and made one for yourself, you get this image that something is going to be different in the future and that you can do things in a different way.

So, on January 1^st, you come in with all of this excitement and positive expectation about how things can be different. And once you make the decision, and you actually get going on this path, it can feel gruelling and your mind tries to stop you.

The brain can actually hijack this process

Our very basic part of our survival brain is wired to keep us safe, comfortable and to avoid pain. So doing the least amount of effort is most pleasurable and most comfortable.

Your primal brain is going to want to keep you exactly where you are versus where you’re going. It’s going to offer you all kinds of reasons why something new and different is a crazy, stupid or dumb idea.

There are all kinds of emotions that typically come up, whether that’s fear, overwhelm, deprivation, or confusion. It can also come to the surface as rebellion. The brain can offer so many possibilities as a way for you to get out and not stay committed to the path that you’ve chosen.

When you’re embarking in a change, assess where there may be obstacles that come up before you actually start

This involves and engages our prefrontal cortex, the higher functioning rational human part of our brain that has the ability to plan, organize, strategize, and think about the future. If we can come at these changes with a predetermined plan, and also think about the obstacles that we might come across, this will be very helpful.

The other thing that happens when we do anything new or different is not having the skill set or the experience to know how to navigate these waters. This can be very threatening to the primal brain where it wants you to stay safe versus venturing out into new territory.

We have to dig deep and tap into the future version of ourselves. And this is the bridge from not knowing what to do and then getting over to having the confidence. It’s hard to have confidence when you’ve never done something before, so we have to borrow it or rely on previous experiences to offer the brain to let it know that we have endured and made it through.

I hope this helps you embark on a journey that is prepared as you venture into any changes in your life, particularly if it’s changing your lifestyle, your habits, your patterns, and even what you eat.