Helping Highly Sensitive Introverts and Therapists create a life outside the box that allows them to embrace their Sensitive Strengths.
All tagged Self-care
Have you ever felt so angry that you wanted to scream or break something? Instead of being curious about where anger is coming from, HSPs often push away intense feelings of anger out of guilt or worry that they need to be kind and gentle. Anger is an important messenger and often shows up when we’re overstimulated, there’s an injustice, or boundaries are broken.
Although it may feel like it, you are not doomed to feel constantly exhausted and overwhelmed as a highly sensitive person. Prioritizing rest and honoring your limits opens up the best parts of being more perceptive and deeply emotional.
As an HSP, you need to live for yourself and not follow someone else’s compass. It’s important to reflect on what you need to honor your sensitivity and how you’re sacrificing yourself to make others feel more comfortable at your expense.
What might be available if you listened to your own needs more often? Less overwhelm, more energy, more joy and fulfillment, strong intuition, better sleep, less guilt. When you begin to recognize the value that your sensitivity brings, you can begin to access more of what your sensitivity has to offer and less of the burdens that come from living a non-HSP lifestyle.
Being more attuned to the slightest changes happening around you as a highly sensitive person, it can be a shock to your nervous system to quickly go from the hot, long, sunny days of Summer to cold days of Winter with little sunlight. The colder months are a time to recharge, a time to reflect, but as you lean into slowing down, be careful not to completely power off.
Being highly sensitive, you get access to experiences others don't have such as deep joy in the little moments, positive emotions at a heightened level, and blissful experiences. Trying to live life like a non-HSP blocks access to your deep thoughts and feelings, strong intuition, innovative ideas, abundant creativity, and healing empathy that only we can have.
As another year begins, you get flooded with messages about setting resolutions and making grand changes in your life. Starting this year on your own terms means honoring your needs as a Highly Sensitive Person to make changes more slowly and focus on self-reflection over resolutions. This approach frees you from the shame of incomplete resolutions and allows you to reconnect with what’s most important.
Being highly sensitive in today’s world seems to be getting more and more difficult. The emotional toll of witnessing tragedy and suffering (mass shootings, wars, social injustice, racism, global pandemic, climate change) on a nearly daily basis is beyond heart-wrenching. It’s okay to react slowly, feel deeply, think before acting, or focus on educating rather than fighting.
What if you could do less and honor your needs to recharge more as a highly sensitive person? The best part is that it only takes a little something for a highly sensitive person to fill up with the same amount of joy as a non-HSP. Being so highly perceptive and a big feeler, you not only notice the little things around you, but you get to deeply experience them. It’s okay to listen inward and hibernate in bed when you need to.
Learning to put yourself first and honor your unique needs as a highly sensitive person is a process that takes time and practice. Educating yourself on what it means to be highly sensitive, practicing self-compassion and mindfulness, and surrounding yourself with people who support your growth are essential pieces of the puzzle.
