What Teaching Science Taught Me About Healing
“What if your body wasn’t a problem to fix, but a system to understand?”
An Experiment in Self-Worth
For years, I treated my body like an equation to be solved—believing that worthiness was measured in calories, discipline, and shrinking numbers. I ignored hunger cues, dismissed exhaustion, and thought control was the path to balance.
But science tells a different story. Homeostasis—the body’s natural drive for stability—isn’t about restriction. It’s about adaptation, restoration, and resilience.
Recovery, much like homeostasis, is a process of recalibration—a journey of returning to ourselves, again and again. As a science teacher, I once studied systems in textbooks. Now, I apply those same principles to understanding and healing my own body.
My Story: From Homeostasis (Survival) to Homecoming (Arrival)
Growing up, the woods weren’t just my backyard; they were my first laboratory. I dug in the dirt, befriended salamanders, smashed open rocks to uncover hidden sparkles. I was a child scientist, fascinated by life’s ability to persist.
But as I entered my teenage years, life’s challenges began to obscure that wonder. Science, once my playground, became my refuge—a place where the laws of nature offered structure in an otherwise chaotic world.
When life’s circumstances shook me to my core, I desperately searched for control. I turned my body into a research project—collecting data, tracking numbers, believing they could restore what I had lost.
I thought I was being precise, but really, I was caught in a loop—trapped in an endless experiment that only led to restriction and obsession.
I let my inner mad scientist run the show, dissecting my body like a problem to be solved rather than a home to be lived in.
The Body’s Quiet Rebellion
At the height of my disordered eating, my body fought to protect me—even as I worked against it.
My hands were always cold.
My digestion slowed.
My thoughts raced.
I called it discipline.
My body called it survival.
Homeostasis is the body’s quiet rebellion—a self-regulating system that fights for balance, even when we try to override it. I believed I was in control, but my body was the one adapting—slowing my metabolism, clinging to calories, rationing energy.
It wasn’t betraying me.
It was saving me.
And when I finally stopped fighting my body and started listening, everything changed.
Reconnecting with Innate Self-Worth
Homeostasis doesn’t grade you on perfection—it just asks you to listen, adjust, and keep going.
Self-worth works the same way. It’s not earned—it’s remembered.
Not when you are smaller.
Not when you are more disciplined.
Not when you are perfect.
But right now.
The Science of Recovery: Keep Experimenting
Recovery is a practice. Like scientific discovery, it requires ongoing curiosity, testing, and learning. Many experiments fail, but they provide essential data.
Healing isn’t linear—there is no set trajectory, only a willingness to experiment, adapt, and grow.
If I do X, then Y—and adjust accordingly.
Each small, intentional shift builds momentum.
Every recalibration brings new insights.
An Invitation to Experiment Inward
The Science of Self-Worth
Healing is not a formula. It is an experiment—one where we listen, adapt, and evolve.
We are not just observers of our bodies—we are active participants, co-creators of our reality. When we shift from passively following external rules to engaging in mindful inquiry, we take back our power.
We learn to play with possibilities, test, refine, and adapt.
That’s why I document—like jotting down notes from the field. Through interactive journaling, I track this dynamic healing process.
Much like the natural world, healing is not linear. There is no single path to self-worth. Instead, it’s a fluid, ever-evolving process—one that asks us to engage, explore, and trust ourselves as the ultimate source of truth.
Homecoming: Arrival
For so long, I believed healing had a finish line. That one day, I would finally arrive at a version of myself that was whole, complete, and unshaken.
But I’ve come to understand that arrival isn’t a destination—it’s a daily practice of choosing yourself, again and again.
Homecoming isn’t about reaching a perfect state. It’s about returning to what was never truly lost—your intuition, your inner wisdom, your worth.
Healing is not about finding a new version of yourself. It’s about remembering who you’ve been all along.
Each moment you choose nourishment over punishment, curiosity over control, and self-trust over self-doubt—you arrive.
Not in the future. Not when everything is perfectly aligned.
But right here. Right now.
The Homework: Nourish your Inner Scientist
An assignment embedded with prompts that heal, nourish, and silence the mad scientist.
What small, loving things can you do to nourish the hidden part of you?
What is one hypothesis about yourself that needs to be rewritten with more truth and compassion?
Stay curious.
Download your HW to interact with these prompts in your own time.
