If you’ve ever wondered why you seem more sensitive than other people, why certain things seem to affect you more than they do other people, it’s probably because you’re simply a highly sensitive person.
While being highly sensitive may mean you have to take better care of yourself to minimize the negative effects of your sensitivities, this personality trait also gives you advantages: greater insight, intuition, and empathy.
Here’s how to best care for yourself and embrace your sensitive nature.
1. Honor Your Emotions
Most people feel empathy, of shared suffering, when they hear someone else describe their difficulties, but highly sensitive people feel other people’s emotions almost as if they were their own.
This gift can make handling your own feelings more difficult. For sensitive types, it’s especially crucial you find ways to replenish yourself emotionally. For example, you may require more time alone.
2. Find Pease, Daily
Feeling easily overwhelmed by environmental stimuli is a common for highly sensitive people. Brain scan research at the University of California has shown that the brains of highly sensitive people actually respond more aggressively to chaotic situations, when this wasn’t seen in other brains.
One strategy that may help is practicing focusing on one source of input at a time while tuning out everything else.
3. Cry When You Need To Cry
Crying more often than the average person is a perfectly natural result of feeling everything more intensely. The best thing you can do when you feel the urge to cry is to allow yourself to cry, freely and without judgment.
4. Make Less Demands On Yourself
If you’re being asked to do several things at once, it can help to write them all down, and prioritize them. Then you can work to tackle one task at a time in order of importance.
After you get a handle on the demands of the day, take time to breathe and calm your nerves.
As a naturally sensitive person, you will likely find yourself needing to take periods of time away from others. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s only by respecting your emotional needs that you can fully utilize your gifts and enjoy all of the experiences life has to offer. Take care of your needs first and the benefits of self-care will follow.
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