Fear of change is coming among us humans. We like to be in our comfort zone. We don’t like change. We fear change. Why change?
I have this colleague of mine at work. She has been at the job for more than 6 years. She knows the job doesn’t treat her well. She knows she could get a better job. But for 6 years she hasn’t. She hasn’t tried once. Although there are other reasons at play, one of the main reasons she said was her fear of change. She is too used to this job. This sentiment is common among a lot of Japanese people. That is why you see most Japanese people work the same job for all their life. The term 正社員 is sometimes also referred to as lifetime employee instead of full-time employee. Although the younger generation are changing with the times, this trait is still prevalent among many Japan.
I am not saying this is unique to Japan. Fear of change is common, but working the same job for a lifetime is unique to Japan. And at the root of this issue I think is fear of change. As I said earlier, we like our comfort zone. We love having routines. This is both good and bad. We love routines so it’s hard for us to break out of a bad routine. On the contrary, if you build a good routine, the benefits are plenty. But this love the routine or the comfort zone isn’t good in the long term. We need to strike a balance. We need to understand when the change we fear is the change we need.
So, the question is, can we change the fear of change? I believe we can. I believe anyone can. But a lot of factors are at play. We need to have the drive to break that fear but we also need the right people around us. Luckily I have gotten used to adapting and changing. I am not over the fear of change, I can never be. It’s natural. But I do know that one the other side, there’s progress and there’s growth. So if you are someone struggling with making a change in your life, let me know. I might be able to help you out.