Change, Stress & the Brain

Change challenges the brain.  It provokes a lack of certainty.  Uncertainty leads to feeling fearful at times.  When we are forced to make life altering decisions, fear of the unknown sends the brain into “threat mode”.  Ironically, that change doesn’t necessarily have to be negative.  Positive change can immobilize us and cause anxiety as well. 

Our brains naturally resist change that we believe is not in our best interest. Why?  Because change is a lot of work for the brain. Think about how intentional you had to be the last time you wanted to change a bad habit! The brain creates patterns/short cuts called neural pathways in order to function with ease and save energy. It takes more oxygen and glucose to forge new neural pathways.  Memory is a physical structure in the brain that supports learning, maintenance and recall of information.

When life ceases to feel safe and familiar, we become very uncomfortable.  Stress disrupts connections between the emotion and self-control centers of the brain. We react according to however the brain has been hard wired in the past. We usually make poor decisions while we are feeling highly emotional.  

However, once one ceases to feel threatened, a way to tackle change is to reframe the view of the circumstance. Reframing is the process of changing how a person views a problem and emotionally readjusts their mind to find solutions that serve them rather than stress them out. 

For example, instead of focusing on the depreciation of the stock market, one could focus on all the discounted stock they’re able to buy at a discount now and sell higher in the future. Instead of being afraid to move to a new city, one could focus on all the promising new opportunities and relationships that await them in their new life. Rather than failing a test and feeling incompetent, you could have the faith to know that repetition breeds mastery and your skill set/knowledge is being perfected and will soon serve you well. 

Likewise, a lack of preparation for a given circumstance could cause you to stall and waste time getting started or you could ditch the need for perfection and choose to see your imperfect initiation as progress. Additionally, in your mind you may be convinced that the lack of desired achievements in your life has sealed the fate of your future, or you could begin to “see” that there is no deadline, and every day of your life is an opportunity to bring the life that you want into fruition.  Perception is everything. Reframing is an excellent psychological tool that involves shifting the set of beliefs that shape our perspective. Change may induce stress, but we get to choose what we believe about each stressful situation if we reframe our perspective and make it our own personal truth by which we live. 

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Sources:

1. Megan Galloway, Director at Thoughtsmiths, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/change-coming￾neuroscience-behind-our-resistance-what-megan￾galloway/?trackingId=6vGYw5WMSDO9YUtPprcwYg%3D%3D

2. hhab-author, https://headheartbrain.com/brain-savvy-business/the-brain-and-change/

3. Nancy Michael, Notre Dame Expert, https://news.nd.edu/news/the-neuroscience-of-behavioral-change￾why-intention-attention-and-persistence-matters/