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Adaptability has a shadow side: too much flexibility can lead to self-suppression, exhaustion, and burnout.

Constantly adjusting to people, workplaces, and change requires invisible emotional and cognitive labour.

Change is exhausting because our brains must work harder when familiar routines and certainties disappear.

Healthy adaptation requires reciprocity: If you’re always the one adjusting, the imbalance can feel unfair.

I have been thinking about the cultural story we tell ourselves about adaptation. Adaptability is often celebrated as an essential quality in both employees and leaders. So many of us are now expected constantly to adapt at work – to new technologies, managers, roles, priorities and organisational change. Like ‘narcissist’, ‘maladaptive’ has become a commonly used clinical insult.

Yet adaptability has not always been a cultural ideal: Think of the Romantics, for example, who celebrated individual genius, originality, and rule breaking. But then again, the Romantic poets were all either independently rich or independently poor and did not have to survive in institutions.

The ability to adapt is undoubtedly an evolutionary advantage. For the fragile, interdependent organisms that we are, environmental fit matters. The more adaptive we are, the more likely we are to survive. This holds true both for our geological and social landscapes.

Adaptability is now one of the most desirable qualities employers look for in the people they hire. Adaptability is attractive because it signals psychological flexibility, resilience, responsiveness and a willingness to learn. It is the opposite of being rigid, inflexible, change-averse, and unable........

© Psychology Today