542: The Science of Navigating Change, Grief, and Uncertainty | Maya Shankar, PhD

What's going on, everybody? It's episode 542. Let's rock. What's going on, everybody? I'm your host, Max Lugavere, and welcome back to the Genius Life. And before you guys email me, yes, I have a cold. I feel fine. It's on its way out, but the, obviously the laryngitis is still here. But, rain or shine, the show must go on. I'm psyched to have you. Today's guest is doctor Maya Shanker. She is a cognitive scientist. She's the host of A Slight Change of Plans podcast, and she's the author of the new book, The Other Side of Change, Who We Become When Life Makes Other Plans. This conversation that I had with her is all about why uncertainty messes with us so deeply, sometimes even more than bad news, why change can feel like an identity threat, and what actually helps when just control your reaction. Sounds like a platitude instead of a plan. Maya shares her own story from a career ending violin injury to profound personal loss and turns it into practical science backed tools, anchoring your identity to your why, using simple self affirmations to widen your lens when you're spiraling, and even how fiction can expand what you believe is possible. If you're in a season of change, this episode will serve as your compass. If you enjoy it, subscribe, leave a rating and review. It helps a ton. And if you want my free weekly newsletter, health research, expert insights, and occasional discounts with no spam ever, join at maxlugovir.com/newsletter. Listen all the way through to the end. You're not gonna wanna miss a beat. And as always, don't forget to share this episode with friends and loved ones that you think may benefit from it. And now with all that out of the way, I'm gonna get myself some tea. Hope you enjoy the episode. It's episode 542. Let's rock. Maya Shankar, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for having me, Max. How are you doing? I'm doing okay. How about you? I'm doing great. I'm super excited to celebrate your new book. Thank you so much. Yeah. It's such an important topic. So let's just, like, jump right in. Why do some people seem to cave with uncertainty, with change, and yet others seemingly are able to reinvent themselves and use it as a force for for good? Yeah. So I'm one of the cavers. I'm very scared of change. And like you said, part of that is because change is often accompanied by so much uncertainty, and we know from research that our brains are not wired to like uncertainty. So one of my favorite research studies shows that people are more stressed when they're told they have a fifty percent chance of getting an electric shock than when they're told they have a one hundred percent chance of getting an electric shock. Crazy. Yeah. It's wild. Right? We would rather be certain, Max, that a negative bad thing …