Change is a natural part of life. Even if we refuse to take part in it, the world keeps turning, the seasons move forward, and time marches on. With everything constantly in motion, it’s easy to miss how things gradually evolve around us, or even within ourselves.

Interestingly, it’s not entirely our fault if we resist change. Humans are actually wired to be cautious about it—a survival instinct developed over many years.

“When we’re born, our brain is completely malleable and experiencing new things all the time,” says Santosh Kesari, MD, PhD, neurologist, neuro-oncologist and neuroscientist. “We’re figuring out positive and negative behaviors, what is good for survival and avoiding consequences that would cause even short-term pain. As we age, our brain learns ways to do things that make us do certain things, and behaving accordingly to each context and each stimulus.”

In other words, our brains figure out what works and what doesn’t early on. This is helpful because it means we don’t have to keep relearning positive behaviors. However, the downside is that our brains get comfortable with certain patterns, making it difficult to adopt new habits or break old ones. That’s why trying to change routines, like incorporating more exercise, can feel counterintuitive for our minds and bodies.

“Emotionally and cognitively and executively the brain has established a lot of pathways,” says Dr. Sanam Hafeez, a licensed clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist. “The more you do something the more ingrained it becomes in neural pathways, much like how a computer that stores the sites you visit—when you log onto your browser, they will pop up because you use them a lot. Change is an upheaval of many things and the brain has to work to fit it into an existing framework.”

So, tasks like driving to work or taking a shower become automatic because we do them every day. Since they’re embedded in our neural pathways, these actions make daily life easier. As a result, “the brain doesn’t have to think too much,” says Dr. Stephanie Collier, director of education in the division of geriatric psychology at McLean Hospital and an instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Bad habits, however, are a bit different from regular routines. While they don’t benefit us, they feel good because the brain releases dopamine in response to them. When we try to break these habits, we create dissonance, which the brain resists, according to Dr. Luana Marques, associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School. The limbic system in the brain activates the fight-flight-or-freeze response, and our natural reaction is to avoid this “threat” by reverting to old behaviors, even though we know they aren’t good for us.

“From an evolutionary standpoint we develop these neural pathways to adapt to live, so when we encounter change our brain shifts into a protective mode,” says Hafeez. “It has to use energy from reserves and it doesn't know, from that evolutionary standpoint, if the change is good for us or not. It doesn’t know if this change is a one-time deal or whether it needs to re-establish a routine. ‘Will it hurt me?’ A lot of red flags go up.”

“If you’re naturally aggressive and you have to change that angry behavior, that may be a struggle, while someone naturally relaxed who say, has to go through a legal battle may have to shift gears,” she adds. “So much is involved.”

Humans are so set in their ways that we’re actually less cognitively flexible than some animals. A 2019 behavioral study from Georgia State University found that monkeys, for example, are much more open to trying new strategies to reach their goals.

In the study, both humans and monkeys were taught a method to achieve simple goals and receive rewards—recognition for the humans and banana pellets for the monkeys. They were then shown a shortcut that would help them reach their rewards faster. The monkeys were quick to adopt the more efficient shortcut, while humans were slower to embrace the new approach. However, once the benefits became clear, people were more likely to get on board.

Change also becomes more difficult to introduce as we age, but it’s essential for sustaining our cognitive health. “You absolutely can and should teach your brain to change,” says Hafeez. “If you stretch your brain past its comfort zone, you’re opening the door to being receptive to other types of change.”

To achieve this, there are various things we can do. Visual, spatial, and memory exercises are great ways to give your brain a workout, and many of these can be easily found online. At first, doing them regularly might not feel enjoyable.

“You will get frustrated,” notes Hafeez, “but that means it's working—just like how your muscles are sore after taking a break from the gym and then returning. You’ve been out of touch with this for a while, but the more you do it, the more your memory of how to do it comes back.”

Another effective way to make our brains more flexible is by learning new skills or hobbies that aren’t related to our daily routines. For example, learning a new language, or trying knitting if you work in IT. “Learning a new skill like this has been shown to ward off dementia, aging, and cognitive decline because it regenerates cellular activity,” says Hafeez. Even simple changes, like taking a new route home, stopping by a different coffee shop, or walking around your desk in the opposite direction, can help.

Ultimately, regularly challenging ourselves to try new things and make positive changes can open us up to viewing the world differently and help us build confidence.

“Most people won’t try something new because they’re deathly afraid of failing,” says Hafeez. “When you see that something is doable it makes you more receptive and brave. There’s that emotional, therapeutic factor that is separate from the neural pathway factor. Over the years, we learn to succeed by viewing our previous failures and successes in a certain light and as we get older we lose sight of that. When you try a new thing it makes you more confident to try to do more new things.”