The second weekend in December: go to my Grandmas (my mom’s mom) for an early Christmas. Right after finals: find a Christmas tree. The day before Christmas eve: Bake Christmas cookies- my mom and I always make the dough together. The end of December and December in general is usually my favorite month. It is filled with so many winter and Christmas traditions that I absolutely love, including spending time with my family. But this December is going to be a little different for a few reasons.

All of the seniors can guess can guess the first one. College decisions. Yikes… I can’t decide if it is better or worse to hear their decisions in December. On one hand, I want to know as soon as possible, but on the other hand, if I am not accepted to my tops schools, I will devastated during my favorite time of the year. We put enormous amounts of pressures on ourselves to achieve a certain goal or accomplishment and college is no exception. I can assure you that this is not part of my usual December routine. And its uncomfortable for me to think about. I have my ideas about what December should be for me and this definitely does not fit the picture.

My second reason is a little more personal. In late September, my grandfather passed away. And all of a sudden so many traditions are changed forever. No more sitting on “Santa’s” lap. No more before Christmas party cuddles in his plush recliner that made me feel so safe. Change, especially in regards to a loss, is really hard to deal with. There are now so many things that you now have to face wither without the other person. How can you fill this gaping hole that they have left? At first, it feels like you can’t. Part of you doesn’t even want to fill this whole because it feels like you’re tying to replace them. So why is it that this happens? Why is it that when we are faced with situations like these we still do not want to face the changes? Why are we SO afraid?

(The amygdala. Source: Thoughtco.com)

Many people including myself, are very hesitant to embrace change. In an article titled “People Are Hard-Wired to Resist Change”, author Chris Pennington states that the amygdala, a part of the brain, interprets change as a threat to the body. In response to this “threat”, it releases the hormones for fear, fight or flight. Your body is actually attempting to protect you from change.That is why so many people fear change. It is something that their body and brain are not used to, therefore they find themselves in a situation their brain thinks that should not be in. A fight or flight reaction. This may have helped our ancestors stay alive, but today most people just find themselves struggling to overcome change.

Even in the middle of writing this post I found myself overwhelmed with emotion. The idea of leaving all my best friends and moving to a completely new place with a bunch of strangers was just too much for me. I had to take a break from writing to process all the emotions that were consuming me. Even though I had a strong physical and mental reaction to thinking about these monumental changes, it is important to know how to accept and occasionally embrace them.There are methods to reduce our fight or flight instincts. We can try to use different relaxation techniques or simply just participate in more physical activity.

At the end of the day, we are just human. We get overwhelmed and nervous when we are faced with change, especially major ones. There is no technique that is going to make us be able to adapt naturally and quickly to change. It is always going to be a least a little bit scary, but you are always able to get through it. Next time your faced with change, try to see the positives. That fight or flight reaction may have played a key role in keeping our ancestors alive, but now it can just play a key role in holding us back from what we truly want.