Everyone’s talking about nervous system regulation.Cold plunges. Somatic tracking. Vagus nerve resets.Breathwork, red light, meditation, tapping, trackers, structured routines...
Regulating your nervous system has become a full-time job.But here's the truth no one wants to say:
If you need to “regulate” yourself all day just to survive your life—
your life is the problem.
We’ve normalized dysfunction.We’ve turned strategy into survival.We’ve started treating the symptoms of a life we never actually chose.
If you work in a job that drains you...If you stay in relationships that are emotionally dead…If you fill your calendar with things that look good on paper but feel like nothing in your gut…Then of course your nervous system is dysregulated.Of course you need tools.
But let’s be honest:
You’re not dysregulated because you forgot to meditate.
You’re dysregulated because you’ve been betraying your body’s truth 10,000 times a week.
You’re keeping up with the Jonases.Trying to look “successful.”Doing all the things everyone else does because you think that’s what health, happiness, and adulthood is supposed to look like.
Busy all the time.Spending money you don’t have on things you don’t need.Staying silent in the face of misalignment because you don’t want to be “too sensitive.”
And then one day your health starts to decline.
And you tell yourself,
“Well, I’m just getting older.”
No.You’re getting further from your truth.And the body is saying enough.
So what happens next?
You go see a functional medicine practitioner.They hand you a beautiful plan: red light, breathwork, nervous system tools, tracking routines...And yes—these are powerful.I use them. I recommend them.But here’s what we need to be honest about:
If your life is fundamentally misaligned,
even the best tools will become just another layer of management.
That’s not healing.That’s lavender spray on a landfill.
Here’s the part nobody wants to admit:
If your life was rooted in truth,
you wouldn’t need to “regulate” so much in the first place.
You wouldn’t be spending 3 hours a day trying to downshift your body from panic mode.You’d wake up already at peace—because you’re not betraying yourself the moment you open your eyes.
Yes, tools can be helpful.Yes, contrast happens.Yes, breathwork is beautiful.But they are not substitutes for a life lived in resonance.
And most people are using regulation techniquesas a way to cope with a life they were never meant to live.
So before you reach for another protocol—ask yourself:
Do I really need to regulate my nervous system?
Or do I need to change the parts of my life that are frying it?
Because health isn’t found in a routine.It’s found in the moment you say no more—to what’s fake, what’s dead, what’s draining, what’s never been yours.
That’s regulation.That’s healing.That’s what makes all the other tools actually work.
Otherwise?You’re just managing chaos with prettier packaging.