The ego is our pain, but it is what we know and we resist moving out of it.  The effort it takes to grow out of painful patterns often feels more uncomfortable than remaining within them.  Personal growth can be so painful because it can make us ashamed and humiliated to face our own darkness.   But the goal of personal growth is the journey out of dark emotional patterns which cause us pain to those which cause us peace.
Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"
change, personal-growth