7 Reasons Why You are Avoiding Change

People avoid change for so many reasons.  I have written the 7 reasons why people avoid change here for you.  These just happen to be the 7 things that went through my head when I was avoiding a big change in my life too.  It’s really important to know the reasons and then you are more likely to notice and maybe do something about it.

7 Reasons why people avoid change

1. What will people say, or think about me?
2. What if it all goes wrong?
3. The mind monkeys in their heads have taken over rational thought.
4. I am comfortable where I am, why change it?
5. What if it’s too hard?
6. I don’t know how to do it, so I’ll just avoid it altogether
7. I don’t have the confidence to do that

1. What will people say, or think about me?

This is a huge one for a lot of people.  It stopped me for a long time from doing so much in my life that I wanted to do.  Is it stopping you too?

You perhaps know what it is you want to do with your life, what business you want, what you want to write or what job you want to do? Then you start wondering about other people.  What if Sally says this?  What would Jo think of me if I did that?  Molly wouldn’t like that.  (These are fictional people, by the way, not based off of anybody at all)

Are these people you? Are they in control of your life?  Will their opinions put food on the table for you? Or, will your life just happen to change for the better if you just went with your gut and went for that job, or started a new business?

Did these people already say these things? I’m guessing not, I’m guessing, that those “opinions” are not really opinions at all, but some random thoughts in your head because you are trying to avoid making a change.  Am I right?

2. What if it all goes wrong?

What if it all goes wrong? This is one that plagued my mind for so long. I didn’t want to let anyone down, I didn’t want to be the one that tried something and it didn’t work out?

Are you wondering if it will all go wrong? Perhaps you are putting words into your own head and you are just thinking of all the things that could go wrong.  These things haven’t even happened yet, and maybe, just maybe, they won’t.

Try and change it up a bit, think of all the things that could go wrong.  Imagine if you made that change you are avoiding making and it goes right.  How would your life change if all those things you just wrong down about what could go right actually happened?  It would be amazing right?  How happy and confident would you be? How would your life and that of your family compare to now?

3. The mind monkeys in their heads have taken over rational thought

We’ve all been there. I’d say all of us have those mind monkeys in our heads.  The mind monkeys are those thoughts that we all get from time to time telling us all sorts of rubbish.  We are listening to the rubbish these monkeys are coming out with.  They are telling us all sorts of lies are we are listening to it.

Are you listening to your mind monkeys too?  Are they lying to you? I think they are, in fact, a know they are lying to you.  Mine lie to me too. They tell me I wouldn’t be able to do it, that I wouldn’t be good enough, that people wouldn’t want to listen to what I have to say.  My mind monkeys are just repeating things to me that are not true, that perhaps I heard from people in my teens in high school during the years of bullying I went through. They are not really from me, my mind monkey just took those in as truth. It doesn’t know any better.

You know better though, don’t you?  You know that those words are rubbish.  They are not your truth. They don’t have to be your truth. You can choose to listen to them and live a mediocre life, or you can be the amazing people I know you can be and just ignore those mind monkeys are embrace the changes are they come.

4. I am comfortable where I am, why change it?

You are stuck in your comfort zone.  I know it’s comfortable, or perhaps it isn’t, but you are just used to living the way things are now?  I was too, I wasn’t aware for a long time, that I was used to doing the tasks and living my life the way I was. It was a comfort zone issue, I was comfortable in that reality because that is what I had known for a long time.

I made a huge change in my life that is terrifying to me, but I’m outside of my comfort zone now.  Are you avoiding a change in your life because you are used to living the way you are now?  You know this life you are living now, you live it day in and day out without much thought.  It’s like you are on autopilot now, and you’re just letting things be.

You don’t have to live like that.  In fact, I’m telling you that living in your comfort zone won’t help you grow.  It won’t help you change.  Nothing grows in your comfort zone, so why live there?

Life is full of changes, you are meant to change and to grow, so let’s get outside of that comfort zone and grow like we were born to do.

5. What if it’s too hard?

If it’s too hard, then that means you are growing.  I’ve said before, that you are meant to grow. If something is hard, then you are growing and it does get easier.

You can learn and practice the things that you find hard to do.  This makes it easier over time because you know more about it.  Do you want to live your life thinking what if?  What if I started that business?  Why didn’t I take that job?  What if I had done that and it changed my life?

You will never know unless you try.  You will never know what could have truly happened unless you embrace that change.

6. I don’t know how to do it, so I’ll just avoid it altogether

This excuse is one of the biggest ones I’ve come across in my business.  People not knowing how to do something, so they avoid it altogether.  “I couldn’t do that.”  “I don’t know how to do what you do”

What if I told you that it doesn’t matter about the how it doesn’t matter if you know how.  You know why? because you can learn.  I’ve said before, you can learn about what you don’t know.  Have you ever done anything in your life that you didn’t know how to do at first?  Did you give up trying to walk as a baby because you didn’t know how to do it?  I’m guessing not.  You got up and you kept trying and eventually, you figured out the how.

The how isn’t your problem, all you need to do is to embrace the change and learn along the way. You can do this!

7. I don’t have the confidence to do that

My biggest reason I avoided going into my first business, was because I didn’t have the confidence. I didn’t have the confidence to get in from of a camera or to talk to people.  You know what? I learnt how to gain confidence.

I’m guessing you are using that confidence thing as an excuse too.  You want to change, but you are telling yourself that you are not confident enough, so why bother anyway.

Confidence is like a muscle, you need to work at it, and grow up and eventually, it will become strong.  If you stop working on it, it will become weak again.

Don’t use that confidence thing as an excuse like I did.  You can work on this too.

7 Reasons for Avoiding Change – Busted!

All those 7 reasons stopped me, today. It’s the first day of the rest of my life, you know why? because I made the biggest decision in June a number if year’s ago in my life so far and I busted through all the excuses.  July 1st, 2017, I decided that I would embrace what changes were thrown my way and I started on the right path to my new business.

If may not be right for everyone? but it is for me and my family and that is all that matter now.

What changes are you avoiding? What decisions can you make today that will help you bust through your excuses too?

If you enjoyed this you may also like to read my 3 tips for gaining confidence