This Is Your Brain on Change

Big moves and major decisions impact you on a molecular level. Here's how to harness it all for smooth sailing.

- By Addison Aloian

Two major life changes hit me at the same time, roughly seven years ago: moving to a big city and going to college. I couldn't wait to finally begin the adventure. But by the time August rolled around and I started packing up my boxes, the emotions came on hard. I was moving somewhere I'd always wanted to live (woo-hoo!), but I was also leaving behind family and friends. And my parents were selling my childhood home. And I was going to have to navigate life in a dorm. Yes, this was college, not a unique experience, but still—these chaotic feelings did a number on my mental health and made me pretty darn anxious. But that’s normal when you're going through changes, whether good or bad, rare or run-of-the-mill.

Change impacts your brain on a chemical level. “Novelty is a big driver of learning and synaptic change,” says Alison L. Barth, PhD, a professor of life sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. “Your brain works differently when everything seems new.” The positive side of it all: Your brain was built for this. “Making a change isn't an inher-ently bad or stressful thing that your brain can’t manage—it is liter-ally its job,” says Rachel Proujansky, PsyD, director of trauma services at the Center for Motivation and Change in New York City.