I hate change.
What do I hate? Change. What do I always do? Change!
Ever noticed how hard it is to apply change?
Whether changing up your mind, a habit, a reputation, a process, an organization or the way you think, eat, behave - change is always a source of conflict, resistance and hardship.
In today’s work environment, we even created a new thing: change management! It takes time and processes and different approaches to ‘’implement’’ change.
Introspective retrospective
As the title sums it up pretty well, I too hate change.
Yet, paradoxically, the more I try to settle, the further away from it I get.
My mind is a restless one. Always fired up, always looking to improve things. I am curious by nature, inquisitive, and driven by an irresistible urge to ‘‘put my finger on things’’.
But I also am driven by the need to ritualize habits in order to automate my existence, spending less mental energy thinking about mundane things. This always prompts me to look into comfort… until it becomes uncomfortable, as if cursed by a little fairy that relishes in picking on me.
Through my life, I worked hard to establish routines, find comfort, until all of a sudden, I find myself in a sweeping whirlwind of… you guessed it: change!
Why does this keep happening?
I hate change.
After graduating from university, I found a job. I found a comfortable structure. Not satisfied with the outcome, I founded my own healthcare center, against all odds, bringing about chaos and change.
I hate change.
After working and living many years in an inadequate environment, instead of adapting, I went for the biggest change one could do: I emigrated, bringing about chaos and change.
I still hate change.
When the pandemic hit, I felt the itch again. I registered at university, again, to study change management. A bit ironic, I know. After my 4th done course, I changed my major to entrepreneurship and innovation. After re-adjusting my shot, I graduated 4 years later with honors, swearing that I would settle.
Then, on the last day of my last exam, I changed to a new apartment in a new area, bringing about, once more, chaos and change.
I really still hate change, but I decided to launch a new business, in parallel to my therapist daily work, to bring about a new complementary technology in the field of fitness, nutrition and health. I studied to become a DNA Genetic Fitness specialist and established the framework of my new business.
Speak of another thing I did to bring about, again as you guessed it by now, chaos and change.
This is just but a small retrospective, far from being an exhaustive list, of what life gave me because I hated change.
Escapism vs. Change
Why does this thing keep happening to me?
I decided to reflect on that matter.
The answer hit me hard: Change was not happening to me - I was unconsciously inviting it to happen!
The way my mind is shaped is simple:
I am constantly aiming for growth: Personal growth, business growth, relationship growth. And it is this very orientation that triggers change.
Looking back at periods where I did not adopt this mindset, nothing was happening. But instead of perceiving it as comfort, I lived it as stagnation.
Fortunately, this frustration brought about change… and chaos. But a constructive and creative chaos.
We need to pay attention to the very thin line between change and escapism.
This is what I was always afraid of. But not knowing the difference made me resistant to what I thought was change.
Escapism is denial. It is burying your head in the ground. It is avoidance.
But if you address and handle your problems with responsibility and a mindset of finding a solution, then change is what will save you.
And change will happen despite you!
Change your perception.
Were you the same person you were 10 years ago?
Were things different when you were a kid?
Did things happen differently 500 years ago?
Was nature the same 5 million years ago?
As we navigate time, things evolve.
People evolve.
Culture evolves.
You evolve!
Resisting evolution will put in stagnation.
Stagnation will put you in depression. Depression will make you regress.
You are not a tree.
Accept that you don’t know everything, that you can be wrong, that there is always someone smarted and wiser than you. Remember that you are perfect in your imperfection.
The good news is: you are not a tree. Move. Create. Question. Learn. Challenge. Experiment.
Unhappy with your current situation?
Switch your mind to what can be done to change it, what sacrifices need to be made, what compromises it takes.
And if nothing can be done, is it temporary or permanent?
In both cases, knowing it will appease you and switch your mindset to look forward, to brighter days, instead of blaming the universe and falling into depression.
As Marcus Aurelius said some 2000 years ago:
‘’The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it’’.
PS: it turns out I love change.
Patrick Georgevitch - June 1st 2025.
Share this if it hit you, for a change!