Do you like to change?
Change means delving into non-familiar and potentially non-safe environments. A key component of our survival is recognizing that which is familiar to us, ensuring our continuous safety.
Whatever we are familiar with, no matter how painful or destructive, we somehow always seem to find our way back—especially in times of crisis and stress.
Think about a gopher seeking shelter from a predator at night. It burrows into its cold, root lined, and dirty hole. It knows it is safe because it has been there before.
Now imagine a luxury suite hole located next to it. Plush carpet leading to a soft, warm and comfy bed. Hopefully with a hot tub.
Which hole would the gopher pick?
The one it is familiar with.
Back in the ‘70s, I worked as a Social Worker in Child Abuse and Neglect in the tobacco fields in Virginia. While doing an intervention to remove a baby from a mother who was beating it, who do you think the baby reached for when you went in to take the child?
The mother.
She was, after all, familiar.
The next time you are in a tough situation, be aware of that familiar thing that you are reaching for.
It may not be what you really need.
