06/09/2026
You can’t expand a window you’ve never opened.
What often gets called “expanding your window of tolerance” is actually people becoming more efficient at surviving overwhelm.
They’re not expanding groundedness.
They’re expanding their capacity to function while dysregulated.
Just like movement.
A person recovering from an injury doesn’t automatically discover an optimal movement pattern. They discover whatever pattern allows them to accomplish the task.
The body doesn’t ask:
“Is this the best way?”
It asks:
“Can I get the job done?”
That’s why someone doing a bicep curl with too much weight starts swinging their hips.
That’s why someone with a weak hip starts hiking their pelvis.
That’s why someone with limited ankle mobility twists through their knee.
The task gets completed.
The pattern works.
And because it works, the nervous system keeps using it.
The same thing happens emotionally.
People-pleasing works.
Workaholism works.
Avoidance works.
Perfectionism works.
Overthinking works.
Numbing works.
They all accomplish something.
They reduce discomfort, create temporary safety, or help us get through the day.
The problem isn’t that these patterns are wrong.
The problem is that eventually the cost becomes greater than the benefit.
The strategy that once protected us starts creating secondary problems.
Just like a movement compensation.
This is why in physical therapy we don’t simply tell someone:
“Stop moving that way.”
