Life as a highly sensitive person can feel overwhelming at times. It can affect your mental health, your relationships, and how you experience the world around you. Adjusting your environment, giving yourself time to recharge, and practicing self care and stress management can help you better navigate your days. Here are 7 ways to cope as a highly sensitive person.
What Is a “Highly Sensitive Person”?
A highly sensitive person (HSP) is someone who has a heightened sensitivity/awareness to the stimuli around them. The term was coined by Elaine Aron and Arthur Aron to describe people with sensory processing sensitivity (SPS). HSPs tend to have a deeper central nervous system sensitivity to physical, emotional, or social stimuli, and are sometimes described as being “too sensitive”. Being an HSP is a personality trait, not a disorder, however, they may share overlapping features with some health conditions, such as:
- ADHD
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Sensory processing disorder
A highly sensitive person is someone who feels emotions and sensations more intensely. They tend to be more empathic, sensitive to physical sensations, and often need time to recharge. If you feel like you feel more deeply than the average person and respond more intensely to stimuli, you may be a highly sensitive person.
10 Signs You’re a Highly Sensitive Person
- Experiencing high levels of empathy and intense feelings for others- feeling other people’s pain or sadness
- Becoming easily overwhelmed by sensory stimuli like noisy crowds, bright lights, or uncomfortable clothing
- Experiencing higher emotional intensity- more intense negative and positive emotions
- Feeling deeply moved by art and music
- Avoiding violent TV shows or movies because they feel too intense
- Needing downtime to recharge, especially after busy days- needing to retreat to a dark, quiet room
- Having deep, complex thoughts and strong feelings that go with them
- Getting stressed out or overwhelmed by multitasking
- Being highly sensitive to caffeine
- Having trouble making quick decisions, working under pressure, or thinking on your feet
7 Ways to Cope as a Highly Sensitive Person
1. Learn Your Triggers
It’s important to be aware of what stresses you out the most so you can prepare for or avoid those triggers. Pay attention to how you feel throughout the day- things that make you feel good and things that make you feel bad. It could be helpful to start a stress journal to record your feelings. You may notice you’re highly sensitive to the news, hate being in busy stores, or that there are certain people that drain your energy. Once you know your biggest stressors, you can work to eliminate them or build resilience to them. Understanding yourself is a key part of coping as an HSP.
2. Prioritize Self Care
As an HSP, you’re more likely to be affected by inadequate sleep, poor nutrition, and burnout. This means it’s extra important to take care of yourself. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep at night, cooking healthy meals, and taking care of your mind and body with things like exercise and meditation. The more you practice self care, the better you’ll be able to handle whatever comes your way.
3. Give Yourself Time to Recharge
You may find that you need more time to relax and recharge than others. Be honest with yourself, as well as your friends and family, about how much you can take on and when you need to rest. If you have a busy day, make sure to carve out alone time, and be sure to schedule downtime between tasks. Don’t make too many plans on the weekends or after work and allow yourself alone time to recharge when you need it. Don’t be afraid to say “no” to things you know are going to drain you.
4. Choose Your Circle Wisely
Highly sensitive people tend to pick up on the feelings of others and don’t like letting other people down. They’re also more susceptible to being stressed out by conflict. This makes it really important to surround yourself with people who understand you and don’t make you feel bad. Try your best to keep your close relationships as conflict-free as possible, and distance yourself from toxic personalities. Work on building a supportive network of friends and save your energy and supportiveness for the relationships that give that back to you.
5. Create Positive Experiences
Add joy to your life by making sure there are positive experiences in your schedule. This could mean going on a long walk with your friend, taking a pottery class, or making a delicious homemade meal for you and your partner. Creating positivity in your life can help isolate you from additional stressors. It’s also important to learn to say no to overwhelming demands and experiences that don’t feel good to you. This may mean saying no to a concert, street festival, or any other loud, crowded environment.
6. Get Things Done During Off Hours
To avoid crowds, as well as the noise and stimulation that come with them, get things done in the time outside of the average person’s schedule. Grocery shop after dinner, take walks early in the morning, and run errands during the week when you can. By scheduling your life this way, you’re less likely to become overstimulated and can enjoy a more relaxing lifestyle.
7. Practice Stress Management Techniques
Since HSPs can become easily overwhelmed by stress, it’s important to incorporate stress management techniques into your life. Learn what works best for you when it comes to managing stress, whether it’s exercise, meditation, journaling, or talking to loved ones. Boxed breathing can also be extremely helpful in stressful or overwhelming situations. To do boxed breathing, breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds and breathe out for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds. Repeat the process until you start to feel more calm.
Life as an HSP may seem overwhelming at times, but incorporating these coping strategies into your routine can help you live a less stressful life.
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