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Wellness culture is big today – empowering for some, unsettling for others.

Cultural shifts can make us question our habits and practices, which can feel threatening.

Feeling threatened often leads to defensiveness and resistance, individually and collectively.

To reduce threat and ease change, savvy changemakers can use science-backed strategies.

It’s no secret that we live in a time of rapid change. Struggling to use AI? Frustrated by generational or political divides? Feel like your social life is slipping? Can’t make time for self-care? Phew. There’s a lot to keep up with.

Yet some shifts feel more consequential than others. Let’s take the wellness craze. While so many things feel outside of our control, wellness culture promises to help us improve our lives. If we can’t fix the world, at least we can fix ourselves—right?

"From what we eat and how we sleep to how we age, move and think,” describes journalist Tonya Mosely, “wellness promises to optimize every corner of our lives." Wellness culture’s reach is growing: It now includes our pets and has even gone global. The French, long famous for decadent cuisine and long lunches, now scarf down midday salads at their desks and request olive oil instead of butter when dining out.

While wellness culture is influencing people near and far to change their behaviors, some are pushing back. Wellness today can demand significant changes to our habits and values, which can make us feel inadequate. It can feel like we’ve been living the "wrong" way—that we haven’t been doing enough or simply aren't enough. Some people are resisting, tossing their fitness trackers into the trash or opting for the “soft life.” There are even red and blue America versions of wellness—from MAHA moms and alpha male camps to ethical consumption and plant-based diets. Critiques also abound, citing a lack of science-backed cures, exploitative marketing, or a focus on fixing individuals instead of systems. While it’s complicated, the constant bombardment of even well-meaning trends can leave us feeling like failures.

Psychological threat breeds resistance to change

Why do some people love the wellness craze while others hate it? One important reason is that when culture changes, it can rock our existential foundations—shifting the familiar ground beneath our feet.

Culture change forces us to face questions about who we are and want to be; what we assume to be good, right, and true. Are we “good” people, doing the right things—like training our nervous systems, optimizing gut health, or journaling every day? Or are we “bad” people, doing the wrong things—being too sedentary, practicing poor sleep hygiene, or indulging in ultra-processed foods? Culture change makes us take a hard look at our assumptions and past actions.

For these reasons, culture change can be psychologically threatening. Culture change that involves shifting power and status dynamics—who’s in and who’s out, who wins and who loses—can be especially threatening.

While never easy to overcome, a feeling of threat is normal in times of change, and resistance is an expected part of the process. Instead of taking it as a sign of failure, culture changers can anticipate and strategize for it. This is why the next principle in the intentional culture change framework that we’ve been exploring in this series is Principle #5: Culture change can feel like a threat.

Overcoming threat and resistance

There are research-backed ways to ease psychological threat during change. A smart way to start is figuring out what’s causing the threat in the first place. When leaders and everyday changemakers do that, they can anticipate resistance, respond more effectively, and tackle challenges head-on.

Research shows that when people feel psychologically threatened, they often respond by:

Defending the status quo: “My family has eaten meat and bread for generations—why change now?”

Denying the problem: “Obesity is about willpower, not health.”

Distancing themselves: “Burnout doesn’t happen to me—people are just whining.”

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Begin with these essential questions: What kind of threat is showing up? For whom? How widespread is it?

Once you’ve identified the source of the threat, you can plan how to lower it and bring people along in the change process. Imagine you’re a physician encouraging patients to try going dairy-free to help manage chronic conditions. Some will push back, calling it a wellness fad or a money grab for food companies hawking new dairy-free products. This “defending” often comes from the people who feel most at risk when the status quo shifts—they feel they have a lot to lose and want things to stay the same.

Next, take a closer look at your patients’ resistance. Often, resistance is really about loss—patients giving up foods they love. One approach is to reduce that feeling of loss—for example, reinforcing a positive-sum mindset (it’s a win-win) instead of a zero-sum mindset (you win, I lose). Another option to ease that sense of loss is framing the change as an experiment or adventure—trying new foods, learning a few new recipes, and discovering new go-to restaurants.

By shifting how people perceive potential threats to their identity and status, change does not have to equal loss. It can instead be a meaningful gain.

Hamedani, M. G., Markus, H. R., Hetey, R. C., & Eberhardt, J. L. (2024). We built this culture (so we can change it): Seven principles for intentional culture change. American Psychologist, 79(3), 384–402. doi.org/10.1037/amp0001209

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