What does it mean when something is in homeostasis? Well, if you’re a cell, it means you’re regulating internal stability in order to function properly. But we’re not just a cell; we’re multitudes of integrated cells. We’re an organism. As humans, we’re… special. We can reason, have empathy, we’re emotional… if an adult human does not have these things, well, I doubt that they’re in a state of internal stability (i.e. psychopaths).
I was by no means a Biology major, but I find this idea of homeostasis very interesting because even though the word is usually used in a physiological sense, I think there’s value in understanding it from a psychological point of view as well.
When I think about where I am in my life right now, I feel like I’m living life comfortably, without chaos. I feel like I’ve got my shit together. I feel healthy physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually. There’s always room for improvement and life isn’t perfect, but it’s good. My own little world feels balanced right now.
Below, I use a scenario of when I used to be in a toxic environment from a past job I had. This is how I would try and regulate my thoughts by comparing it to the four steps of homeostasis:
Note that the control center is our brains and that is where the rewiring takes place. When you notice a negative thought that doesn’t serve you, you first become aware of it, then you replace it with a new thought that is positive, but still true. This is generically how we rewire our brains.
So here’s the Catch-22: in order to achieve homeostasis, we must first undergo a change if things are out of whack. In my example above, the change happens in the rewiring of thoughts. I didn’t like how I felt in my day-to-day situation at work. I felt unbalanced. As a matter of fact, I went to the doctor who prescribed me an SSRI which works to restore the balance of serotonin in my brain. That, along with therapy and signing up for crossfit (doing something I enjoyed and getting exercise) all contributed to helping me feel balanced.
Ultimately, I didn’t feel totally at ‘homeostasis’ until I removed myself from the situation all together. While all those strategies mentioned above helped me tremendously, it wasn’t until I quit that job and moved on to a better one, one that made me feel happy and fulfilled, that I realized, “Hey, this is how a healthy, well-balanced person should feel.”
It would be naive of me to expect to feel at homeostasis 24-7 forever and ever while on this earth. Things happen in life and we inevitably experience lows and highs at different times. However, if feeling overwhelmed, you can always try to recenter yourself by taking charge of what you can control. You start by becoming aware of what’s making you feel out of sync, you focus on the thoughts that are positive and true, and once you’re in a healthy frame of mind, then you can start to develop a strategy to remove yourself from the toxic situation all together, if need be.
With these strategies, I believe we can stabilize ourselves until we feel at peace and can operate at our best, balanced selves.