Homeostasis

“n. any self-regulating process by which an organism tends to maintain stability while adjusting to conditions that are best for its survival.” from Encyclopedia Britanica

The meaning of homeostasis, when considered from its origin of the Greek words “same” and “steady” is intuitively self-explanatory – keeping things same and steady; maintain equilibrium.

Our bodies have in-built physiological mechanisms to drive this process, when the body needs sustenance, hunger sensations are triggered. Dehydrated? You feel thirsty. These are “primordial feelings” according to Dr. Google.

What about when we’re depressed or angry? There aren’t any in-built mechanisms to actively restore homeostasis in episodes of anger or sadness. It’s rather ironic considering how powerful emotions can be.

There is a HBR article on the topic of resilience. It states “the key to building resilience is: give it all you’ve got, stop and recharge, then try again. Resilience isn’t about how much you can endure, but rather how well you can recharge yourself in between bouts of trying as hard as you can.“

This act of “recharging” echos closely to the physiological mechanism for homeostasis. Instead of the recharge being something that is triggered automatically, it takes conscious effort to implement.

A coffee and a nap sounds perfect right about now.