How to deal with daily burnout as a Sensitive Person

As you read this you may be feeling overwhelmed, screaming on the inside, jittery, or breaking somewhere deep inside of your core. This feeling may have been following you for your whole life as an adult or even as a child as you may have experienced something very frightening, threatening, and highly unfavorable that cause excessive stimuli to feel like you are being strangled from within. You may think that something is wrong with you, but there is a chance that you are a highly sensitive person. NOTHING is wrong with you. I will repeat it nothing is wrong with you.

If you are a sensitive person you may feel like the world is one big authority figure yelling at you, telling you to push through daily interactions that overwhelm you with positivity and happiness. If you are like me that is simply impossible. I am delighted that you are reading this for some quick relief to calm the sensations in your body that you certainly do not deserve to feel multiple times per day.

Tip # 1: Stop what you are doing and play

This may sound wacky but if you are in an overwhelm attack you need to change your space externally if you can and internally if you can't leave the meeting, desk job, or family dinner. As an sensitive person simply being in an important room for work, being at a Thanksgiving Dinner, or hanging out with a friend or two can be paralyzingly shocking for your nervous system that it goes into overdrive. If you resonate with something like this you need to stop your minds thought pattern that is usually keeping your authentic self closed down, and your survival mode on. Make a joke, divert your attention to picking up your favorite book, turning on your television, or pulling out your paint set, you can even go into your closet to have your own fashion show to see which of your clothes look great on you. These acts show you how to get out of your overwhelm, and get into a new environment of good energy.

One thing that I have been doing to calm myself down is adding to my positive music playlist. I believe that giving myself a dose of soulful, upbeat, and successful energy is not only therapeutic to listen to but to also amazing to participate in!

Tip # 2 Reach out to a friend and be HONEST

Before we ever had counselors, and trained professionals our first instinct was to go to a friend for help and ask for space (with their permission) to get some affirmation and relief. Our internal buzzer goes off when our insides are trying to say something but no one is available to listen or address it. This may mean that your daily environment is unsupportive or that you do not allow yourself to be supported in the specific ways that you need! When you reach out to your friend if they say yes use this time to be brutally honest, and leave no issue left unresolved. An example of this could be that you go to do your tasks at work, but you do not get any good feedback or you feel unseen but no one asks about you or tries to empathize with you. You may feel like you are unfit but not able to leave your position for financial reasons, or feeling overall inadequacy. Tell all of this and more to your friend that you trust. When you are able to get the relief of someone hearing you and understanding you this can open up a natural path to improve how you feel about yourself and exist back into the environment that is causing you distress. Give yourself the feedback that you know that you deserve. You deserve to be awarded for your efforts with enthusiasm and to get back all that you give!!

Tip # 3 Listen to something comforting and familiar

If you are at work repeat a phrase that you usually hear a loved one say, or from one of your role models. You can definitely rely on your imagination to remember what they sound and look like envisioning their presence beside you. This may bring you an internal smile and a reminder that you are never alone. You can always have someone relatable with you that you resonate with, that you can keep near. They want you to be centered, to feel balanced, strong, motivated, and rested in all moments. If you are able to put on headphones or the radio have your favorite musician, creative, teacher, or role-models audio or video with you. Listen to the full song, video, or session. Give yourself and that person the 10, 20, or 30 minutes to become one in those moments. Allow the comfort to soak in and re-energize your nervous system. For me, I like to listen to the songs of my childhood any 90's songs like Mariah Carey, Boys II Men, India Arie, Little Mix and I enjoy how it feels to be energetically pleased.

Tip # 4 Tell yourself that you are proud all day long

One of our core yearnings comes from our childhoods. If you were like me you loved when a teacher saw your efforts as a little student and told you that you were doing a good job, or gave you a star sticker. They were telling you that your cute little body and heart was right, and that you belonged. Now that some of you may be teenagers or adults sometimes we can go weeks or years without feeling rewarded for our efforts and this leads to day-to-day internal chaos. An easy boost can come from telling yourself when you feel your weakest that you are proud of yourself. You can do this as many times a day as you need or want, but it is the greatest gift that we can see our own efforts and reward ourselves in this deep and gratifying way. You deserve to feel proud of yourself for being a sensitive person in this complicated world.

Tip # 5 Take a self-care day off

Do not make any excuses for why you can't take one day off. Even if one of those days is on the weekend there is a difference between a day off and a day where you are trying to squeeze in as much fun as you can that you can't do on a typical work day. If you need to plan ahead and write down a list of activities that soothe you, and bring a sense of pleasure to your own mind or body. Being that you are a sensitive person you absorb so much, and gifting yourself with space to just be yourself is something that you deserve everyday. I encourage you now to take a day off in the next week or weekend. This act in itself can cause immense calm to your body, mind, and heart knowing that your own needs will be taken care of in the very near future.

Please use these tips as a daily support so that you can feel more balanced and strong throughout your day as a Sensitive person. If you need any extra support feel free to reach out to my email [email protected]! Support my writing by giving me a heart or tip! Thank you :)