How To Stay Powerful In A World That Says You’re Too Sensitive

In a world that rewards those who are the toughest and don’t take no for an answer, it can sometimes seem like a curse rather than a blessing to live with a sensitive soul. But take a moment to step back and look at things from a unique perspective, you’ll see that there is a power in being a sensitive person. There is a beautiful strength to experiencing your emotions deeper than most, and you should be proud of that.

Having emotions does not make you flawed.

Sometimes it may seem impossible to hold on to your power when you feel as though the world is against you. Here are some ways I have found to take back the power and the magic of being delicate in an insensitive world.

Honor Your Emotions

Emotions are a hard thing to navigate for everyone when people are advising you to hide them away. Societal norms try to convince us it is a sign of weakness to show that you are human, to show that you feel. When you are a sensitive person, you feel things beautifully. How deeply you feel love, pain, and happiness is such a wonderful thing that should not have to be silenced. By learning to feel your emotions unapologetically, you will not only heal yourself and your mind, but you will also inspire others around you to allow themselves to do the same. There is a magnificent feeling of pride when you show gratitude to your emotions.

Stay Conscious Of The Relationships You Allow In Your Life

Energy is a powerful thing. The people you surround yourself with can influence the energy in your life profoundly without you even being aware.

How are the relationships in your life serving you?

The people you surround yourself with are a very overlooked factor in emotional happiness. When you are a sensitive person, energy affects you severely. Allow yourself to be picky with whom you share yourself. You have control over who you allow in your life and who you give your energy to. When you are a sensitive person you create deeper bonds with people close to you. When you are around someone, you bond with them energetically. Your energy affects them and their energy affects you. If you allow just anyone into your life and to be close to you, it can be draining. We often classify highly sensitive people as antisocial and introverted, but that’s not always the case. They need to be careful about who they surround themselves with so they can protect their own energy. There is power in choosing to take care of yourself energetically.

Avoid Overstimulation And Create Boundaries

This world is a giant bucket of stimulation. For someone who experiences the world in a heightened way, that stimulation can easily go from an enjoyable experience to a nightmare. Overstimulation is different for everyone. For some people, it’s easy to be around groups of people for long periods of time, for others a half-hour or an hour is plenty and any more than that will send you into a straight burnout. By being able to understand your limits and pay attention to what triggers you, you can avoid overstimulation. Doing this gives you a sense of control and a sense of power with your emotions and how you feel. Take back your time and allow yourself to have limits. Realize it is okay that you may not enjoy things because they may overwhelm you in a way that they might not do so for someone else.

“Even a moderate and familiar stimulation, like a day at work, can cause an HSP to need quiet by evening.”

― Elaine N. Aron

Burnout from overstimulation is real, and it can send you spiraling. We are all different and it is okay to not enjoy things the same way as others. Boundaries and limits are an amazing and powerful thing to create for yourself. When you are a highly sensitive person, extended periods of social interaction can be exhausting. It’s not because you don’t enjoy being social or that there’s something wrong with you, but sensitive persons often take on the energies of the surrounding people. Whether the energies are positive or negative, they will affect you. It’s very important to give yourself time to recharge alone and have space from others to differentiate between what emotions are yours and what emotions are from external factors. It’s important to dedicate time to get in touch with your own emotions instead of focusing on what’s going on in the world or someone else’s life. You need to understand the emotions that are going on inside of you rather than anyone else.

Take Advantage Of Your Vivid Inner World

Beauty is something that highly sensitive people often appreciate on a much deeper level. Why not take advantage of that appreciation? Use it to create, to bring passion into what you love, and to share the beauty that you see with others. It is a blessing to be so aware of the wonderful world that surrounds us in a way that others may not. Take advantage of that, use it to charge your passion. The world inside of you may be a little chaotic sometimes, but there is beauty in chaos, there is beauty in you.

Some of the most creative people in this world were highly sensitive individuals that took advantage of their sensitivity and their perception of the world to create art that other people who don’t experience life the same way might look at to see things how in a whole new perspective. Share the beauty you see with others.

Understand That You Are Not Alone

As hard as it is to see, know that you are not alone. There are so many of us that feel the world and feel like we see the world in a way that nobody else may I understand. But that’s not true, we are here; we support you. We may not see the world or experience the world in the same way that you are experiencing but we are here and we are all going through this journey together of dealing with powerful emotions in our day-to-day lives. Often it helps to talk to someone. There are groups online, there are plenty of resources that will help you because being a sensitive person in this world is a venture only a warrior like you can handle.