Staying the Same is a Helluva Drug

Let’s be honest: change is awful.

If you’ve ever sat on your couch in full athleisure thinking about the gym but somehow ended up horizontal with one sock on and half a granola bar in your hand, you know what I mean.

As humans, we are wildly talented at staying the same.

Like, Hall of Fame level. It’s one of our greatest natural abilities—right up there with finding snacks and developing back pain from absolutely nothing.

And it’s not just anecdotal. According to research published in Health Psychology Review, people are significantly more likely to repeat a health-related behavior than to introduce a new one—even if they know the new one would be better (Gardner et al., 2012). The study dives into something called habitual automaticity, which basically means we do what we’ve always done… because it’s easier than thinking.

Translation: your Wednesday workout habit is less a heroic act of willpower and more the adult version of walking the same route home from school because it worked yesterday.

Here’s the Twist: Use It.

If we know we’re inclined to stay the same, what if we made “the same” something that serves us?

You want to move more? Eat better? Sleep like a functioning adult?

You’ve got to build scaffolding—structures that hold you up even when your motivation drops below sea level:

• Put your workouts on your calendar like they’re meetings with Beyoncé.
• Prep your food like future-you is counting on you (because they are).
• Join a group that will notice when you disappear.
• Create friction for the bad stuff. (Hide the cookies. Burn the couch.)

In other words, design your life in a way where the path of least resistance is the one that leads somewhere worth going.

Because yes, change is hard.

But staying the same?

That might be harder.