Dr. Carrie Ditzel Dr. Carrie Ditzel, a clinical psychologist with Baker Street Behavioral Health

About 80% of people abandon their New Year's resolutions by February due to fear of change. Real Simple Magazine published an article on coping with this fear, featuring comments from Dr. Carrie Ditzel, a clinical psychologist. Change is challenging because it often feels out of our control and impacts many areas of life. However, we can gain control by examining our own resistance to change and finding ways to accept and evolve from it. Stress management techniques like sticking to routines and giving ourselves time to adjust can help. Change can be positive and lead to personal growth and evolution. Reflecting on past changes can provide insight and inspiration. It's important to embrace change and believe in ourselves to move forward and achieve success. To learn more, visit BakerStreetPsych.com. There are plenty of reasons, apparently, why about 80% of us will abandon our New Year's resolutions by the time we reach February. Are you part of that crowd? Yeah, maybe. One of the most common reasons of fear is, apparently, resistance to change. And Real Simple Magazine recently published an article called, How to Cope with the Fear of Change. It included some comments from a clinical psychologist who is with Baker Street Behavioral Health, based right here in the fine state of New Jersey. The article looks at why change is so challenging for so many people and what makes it so hard to keep people from progress or happiness. Instead, they become anxious and depressed when faced with change. Joining me this morning, who contributed to this article, is Dr. Carrie Ditzel, who is a clinical psychologist with the above-mentioned Baker Street Behavioral Health this morning. Dr. Ditzel, good morning. It's Burt Barron, RNJ Radio, also in New Jersey. How are you today? Good morning. I'm well, thank you. Change schmanes, doctor. I've been in this business, I've seen so many changes in the 25 years that I've been in radio. The need for social media, the need for websites, the need to do so many things in addition to just playing records and talking on the microphone. There's so much change that's gone into what I do. Big tech is seeing change. Disney is seeing big change. What's going on with change and why do people handle change, some people, better than others? Change is one of the few guarantees in life, right? Like you're saying, everything is going to evolve and change. When I look at change, I really think about the person's control over the change, whether that was a choice of theirs or not, how much they wanted the change or not, the ripple effect of the change. One change can impact a lot of areas of life, and that's the piece that's a little bit unexpected for some of us and catches us off guard. But then also our own resistance to the change, and this can just come in the form of your own thoughts, like I wish this wasn't happening. Why do I need to post on social media every five hours or whatever it might be? And when we examine our own resistance to the change, that's when we can gain a little bit of control back, a little bit of insight into how much upset or distress we're going to have. So somebody who's more distressed by a change might be the most resistant to it. And so clinically speaking, when I'm working with individuals that come to me in distress, a lot of times it whittles down to there's been a change in their life or something has happened that they didn't want to have happen. And they have no control over it. It's going that way. It's that brick wall in front of them, and we talk about it, and we figure out how to lessen our resistance to it and flow with it a little bit more. We don't have to love it, but we have to accept it. So I think that's the key. And you made a really terrific point when you said it's having something that you have no control over for something that's out of your hands. That weighs heavily on people because some people just like to have control. Whether it's immediate destiny, long-term life plans, you have to have that control. But conversely, doctor, you have people that say, well, you know what, it's out of my hands. There's nothing I can do. I'm just going to do the best with what I have. Change is going to happen. What's going to take place will take place. And I'm just going to adjust and rebound and refocus and do whatever I have to do. But it seems like it's that gray area where people really struggle with change and their ability to control or have no control over what happens to them or their families. And it's just struggling with that little gray area of change that I think really kind of throws people off. I agree. And I think the people you're talking about that say, I'm going to roll with it, whether they realize it or not, they've probably found a little piece of control within the situation. If you look at any situation, there are parts of it that we can't do anything about. But then there's something you can do something about. We can always change our perspective on it. We can look at what we're going to gain out of this change. Something very simple like I had to change jobs, you could find the best new coffee shop near that new job. I mean, it could be something super simple to just help boost your mood a little bit about it. So the people you're talking about that naturally have that ability, that might be what they're doing on the inside. And just stopping and reflecting on it can really get you far. If you're finding that you're really struggling, take just a minute and pause. And I tell people, think about your thinking, which is a funny term, but it's really true. Take stock of what is going on in your mind about it and see if you could turn something on its head. Find some way to evolve from the change in a positive way. You're right. Find the positives in there. Dr. Carrie Ditzel is my guest this morning at the RNJ Morning Program, clinical psychologist with Baker Street Behavioral Health, which is based right here in New Jersey. Dr. recently contributed to an article that was published in Real Simple Magazine. And that kind of sums it up too, Real Simple Magazine, how to cope with the fear of change. And we're just talking about some things that you and I could do to maybe make change a little less stressful for us. Some particulars, Dr. Ditzel, if we could talk on that. And that's about dealing with the stress that kind of comes hand in hand with change. What do you recommend for people that come to see you that are just so stressed out by the changes they're seeing? Well, we dig into good old stress management techniques. And those are really individualized. Change creates stress. It's something different, even if it's a good thing. So what are the things that help you get through? It might be making sure that you're doing your own routine. I think that's a key one. Change is going to probably throw a wrinkle into your routine. So what can you do that is predictable, that's normal for you? And getting back to that can really create a sense of comfort. That's great for stress management, just going back to your old tried-and-true routine or just establishing a new routine that feels good. Yeah, that's a really good one. Long before you and I were born, Dr. Ditzel, a band called the Rolling Stones had a song called Time is on My Side. And I guess when it comes to change, time will kind of itself, knowing that you have some time to acclimate to change, make that time work for you. You're in control of the time and the destiny in terms of how your time relates to that. Find a way to make the time work out a positive thing to you as you're adjusting to the new routines and maybe a new work location or maybe just a new routine. Use the time wisely to make the necessary adjustments. Absolutely. And just remember that time is on your side. Maybe throw that song on the radio. I love that idea, by the way. And just remember that time heals all wounds, so to speak, and you just have to get through it. It's not that it's going to become the perfect situation right away, but as you go through it, it's going to get easier and easier. And just give yourself that time to let it happen and not expect too much of yourself or the situation right away. Yeah, really great advice. Watch out for the negative things that might come about as a result of change. Also, keep track of your progress. Take notes. Maybe keep a journal. Keep a log. Monitor yourself. Share your thoughts. Share your feelings as you're going through this change. And you could see maybe if it happens again, some things that you did the previous time might work out for you. But I think at the same time, I'm sure that you want to impress upon people. Embrace this. Try to make a positive out of it. Change is not easy for people, but sometimes there is that silver lining where it could actually change could be a good thing for you. Absolutely. I also use the word evolution a lot with people. This is not a change that has this negative connotation. How can we evolve from this? Because if you look back on your life, no matter what stage of life you're in, you have gone through changes. Nobody can say they haven't, really. You went from being a kid to an adult, an adult to being a parent, let's say. Whatever the case may be, we can find that you've gone through changes. How did you evolve? What came from those changes? How have you become better in some ways? So if we call it that and we find that and we look forward to that, then it makes this change go better. And that relates to that journaling idea. Maybe if you haven't kept a journal or anything like that, that's fine, except you could look back and say, what was the last big change I went through? How did I get through it? And reflect on it and then dig into those things again. Yeah, I always try to cite examples, too, Dr. Ditzel, of people that went on to do great things, you know, maybe a little bit later on in life and maybe had some rocky things going on when they were starting out, you know, maybe getting out of college through their 20s, through their 30s, and had failed at a bunch of different things. And then all of a sudden, they're almost approaching middle age. And then all of a sudden, they have this tremendous breakthrough. And it's because they handled change well. They never gave up. They believed in themselves and who they were. And they just kept moving forward. You know, that's the message that I try to impart upon people as well. If someone wants to reach out to you, Doctor, maybe get some more information and pick your brain a little bit more in this topic, how do they do it? I would recommend going straight to our website, BakerStreetPsych.com. You could find me. You could find our other providers and all the services we offer and reach out through that. You could send us an email, and I'd be happy to speak with anybody. Great stuff. And now all these songs with change in the title are going through my head. David Bowie, there's Yes, there's that. Now I've got them all going through my head. But, Doctor Ditzel, thank you so much for the contribution this morning to the program. And have a great weekend. And thanks again for the time. You too. Thanks for having me.