Our comfort zone is that state of mind where we feel no anxiety; we're anxiety-neutral, if you will.  When we step outside our comfort zone, we feel stress.  Stress-induced adrenaline can enable us to raise our performance to new levels; it enables us to take risks and tackle new challenges.  On the other hand, stress caused by anxiety, our state of mind, or how we perceive a threat to our comfort zone can not only be unhealthy, but undermines our ability to move through the change that initially caused the stress.  

When we experience change, either by our own initiation or when it is thrust upon us, we have our comfort zones threatened.  If we perceive the change as positive, our response is generally positive.  If negative, we initiate the energy-draining grief cycle.  And then, the fight really begins.

Sometimes change can be drastic, sudden.  Generally speaking, change happens over time.  In turn, change often requires leaving a comfort zone and can feel like a weaning process.  There's a loss of security, a loss of significance.  A loss.

What can be done to reduce the perceived loss associated with change?