In our current productivity-obsessed society, sensitivity as a personality trait is often undervalued, or at worst seen as a weakness or personal failing. It is seen as an obstacle to rationality and something that gets in the way of getting things done.
Have you ever been called “too sensitive”?
I believe that personal sensitivity is something to be valued. To feel more deeply, to be more affected by your experiences, is to have a rich life full of meaning. Being responsive to the world around you is to be embedded and interconnected with it.
It’s true that feelings may stick around longer than we or others may prefer. And yet, slowing down to process and consider the things we encounter is what we need to actually move forward. When we try to avoid our feelings and/or move on too quickly, it often comes back to haunt us, in obvious and subtle ways. Sensitivity makes it harder to avoid the things that are good for our emotional health.
Not only does being sensitive bring up what needs attention in ourselves, but it also shows us what needs care around us. That may not always feel like a gift—to feel for others in a way that most people seem not to—but I believe that sensitive people play an important role as part of the survival mechanism of this world.
Sensitives (which I believe include Highly Sensitive People, empaths, autistics, and other neurodivergent folks) don’t have it easy though. It can be hard to modulate energy output. It often takes more energy to deal with social or otherwise stimulating situations; and there are certain situations we find overstimulating that others do not. Becoming overstimulated can be a hard thing for others to understand, and can look like shut down, irritability, difficulty in communicating, or exhaustion. It also takes time to return to a baseline calmness. Again, these are not faults or failings; but they can be considered access needs (everyone has access needs by the way, it’s just that mainstream society privileges some more than others).
I do my best to provide an environment that is calm and welcoming for you to show up however you are. I can help you explore what your triggers may be, how to have better energetic boundaries with people, and how to protect and conserve your energy so that you are not wide open to everything in the world.
I want you to thrive as a proud and intentionally sensitive soul.
