Listener question: what brings about change?

I have a question about what has to happen for a person to change or at least seek change. Do people allways have to hit the bottom floor and face unbearable pain to get themselves in the postion to seek change? As I listen to your podcasts/Videos, defense mechanism & EGO sistems in place are strongly keeping us in the status quo. And grasping temporaly reliefs (outside ourselves) from discomforting feelings can just prolong needed realisations.