What if the road most travelled is your default response to the happening of life, even if this road is harmful? To live life this way is to also hold onto your past as a reference point for your future in the sense of the former informing the latter.
Change, although necessary, is not always that easy, especially when your mind also interprets your new goal – i.e. the less familiar – as a threat: possibly a loss of control coupled to uncertainty. After all, we feel safest when we are in recognisable, regular, and predictable situations, in other words, familiarity. Therefore, the further the goal is outside of your comfort zone, the greater the possibility that your subconscious will plot to sabotage your future unused successes.
This regularly manifests when we encounter fatigue along the new pathway leading to a goal, meaning that not only are mental resources starting to thin out, but your original motivation is fading into the distant past. It can also manifest when along the new pathway, unexpected events materialise, or we start to query if we ever possess the required competencies to keep on forging forward. Therefore, what is happening is confirming the warning previously sent out by the subconscious mind. It is at this point that someone can subconsciously begin repeating negative behaviour as the mind enters into self-preservation mode (sometimes face-saving) and gravitates back toward the previous default mode. The unknown is capable of making demands on often misjudged reserved of mental capacity.
We have to recognize upfront that there may be blind spots and personal bias that we can manage through gathering information, sound boarding, considering alternatives, benefits and costs whilst at the same time acknowledging (and managing) panic, fear, stress and other negative factors that could weigh in on the overall process. Feed off of this and chase down your goal with a rational emotive mindset. When we do this, the possibility is created for positive unconscious behaviour since your heart and your head are in agreement with one another and are open to learning and discovering. This in itself is a window of opportunity that invites exploration intending to reinforce the necessity of the goal and developing endurance and perseverance.