Your nervous system

The nervous system isn't focused on happiness or fulfilment.

Its primary task is survival.

And survival means one thing: being aware of what's happening.

That's why the nervous system so desperately needs predictability.

Predictability tells the body that the world operates according to certain rules.

That events have continuity.

When something repeats itself, the brain learns a pattern.

And a pattern means less energy consumption.

Less vigilance.

Less tension.

More space for rest and regeneration.

Chaos has the exact opposite effect.

Chaos is a situation in which you don't know what will happen next.

It's sudden changes, a lack of rhythm, unpredictable reactions from the environment, a constant "something's about to happen."

It's living in a reacting mode, not a being mode.

For the nervous system, chaos equates to threat, even if nothing objectively wrong is happening.

The body doesn't need real danger.

A lack of stability is enough.

The nervous system doesn't analyze logically.

It doesn't check facts.  It scans the environment for safety.

It checks whether what's happening is predictable.

Are the patterns consistent?

Are other people's reactions similar to yesterday's?

Is the ground firm?

If the answer is "I don't know," the body goes into alarm mode.

Then tension, hypervigilance, and racing thoughts appear.

Or, on the contrary, freezing, apathy, and detachment.

These are different strategies of the same system trying to cope with excess uncertainty.

That's why prolonged living in chaos is so exhausting.

Not because someone is weak.

Because the nervous system doesn't have a moment when it can stop scanning for threats.

People living in chaos for long periods often have trouble sleeping.

Their body can't shut down.

Difficulties with concentration, memory, and emotional regulation arise.

When there's no predictability, the body can't shut down.

It doesn't truly rest.

It doesn't fully regenerate.

It's on alert even when everything is theoretically fine.

That's why regulating the nervous system doesn't start with major life changes.

It starts with small, repetitive reference points.

With things that happen similarly every day.

A consistent time to get up.

The same cup of tea.

A familiar smell.

To the nervous system, these aren't trivial matters.

They're proof that the world can be predictable.

That not everything is falling apart.

That you don't have to be in constant tension.

And sometimes this quiet, daily repetition is the first moment

when the body begins to believe

that it no longer has to fight.

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