Don’t Compare Yourself to Non-HSPs
As highly sensitive people (HSPs), we are the minority 20% and experience life in a different way than 80% of the population that doesn’t have this trait. That’s an incredibly important factor to understand. The world is set up for the stimulation levels of the 80%. Therefore, it is essential to stop comparing yourself to people without the trait of high sensitivity.
If you are an HSP, you may need more rest and recovery time after dental or medical appointments than up to 80% of the population. For example, I had a two-hour dental procedure, and some people would go back to work after, but as an HSP, I understand that I needed downtime to rest and recover. If I don’t overdo it today, I’ll recover faster.
Because this is a trait of sensory processing sensitivity, we tend to get overstimulated more easily. Everything that we take in can be a bit more magnified, especially those of us higher on the scale of sensitivity. As an HSP, I understand that the best thing for me is to rest and not push myself and practice self-compassion for my needs.
Stimulation levels are mostly set for the 80% not the 20%. It’s always something to keep in mind so that you’re not hard on yourself when you might need more rest and recovery than someone else. That’s a normal part of living in balance as an HSP.
Most of all, it’s essential to have compassion for yourself. I know you may get hard on yourself if you feel like you need more rest or recovery time than someone else during times of overstimulation. But being hard on yourself eats up precious energy points and slows recovery. You can preserve energy points when you practice self-compassion and the right type of self-care for your needs.
I also used to be hard on myself for feeling like I needed more recovery time than a lot of people around me. But after understanding this trait, and my sensitive system, l stopped using energy points to be hard on myself and now put energy into the self-care that gets me back in balance fastest. I get to save a lot of points too for other things I need.
It’s an incredible feeling to live in an empowered place of acceptance of yourself. I want to get you all to true sensitive empowerment too!
Here are the steps that I see help HSPs genuinely thrive:
Learn all you can about the trait and what helps you stay balanced. As an HSP myself and a psychotherapist specializing in this trait, I’ve dedicated my life to teaching you how to live your best life and provide valuable information and HSP Resources Here.
Spend time with other HSPs because it is validating and normalizing to know that other people experience life like you do. It’s one of the biggest reasons I created a brand new Sensitive Empowerment community (off of the distractions of social media). We learn more about the trait, and lift each other up and all benefit.
I believe an HSP living in a state of balance means you get to access your many gifts and will likely share those gifts with the world who needs them. It’s just who you are as a person who cares deeply. Once you learn how to live in alignment, honor your needs, and genuinely thrive, you will be amazed at how good it feels! I created this graphic to show the difference between living in survival mode and living in sensitive empowerment. Where are you and where do you want to be?
Many HSPs are suffering in survival mode. I know I used to, as well. Your gifts are buried and mostly not accessible when you are just trying to get through the day. I want to help you access those gifts, and when you do, everyone around you benefits.
When I bring a group of HSPs together, magic happens. The kindness, caring, and compassion you put out into the world comes back to you and lifts you higher. You are meant to fly, and we fly higher and further when we come together in supportive spaces.
Sensitive Empowerment is freedom and living in your true authentic self. It’s a beautiful place to be, and I hope you know how needed you are in the world.
Over time, in our new Sensitive Empowerment community, I’m going to give you examples of real life ways to thrive.❤️❤️ I hope you will come join your fellow HSP tribe as we get empowered together! www.sensitive-empowerment.com
Julie’s HSP Information/Resources
Join Julie and your HSP tribe in our new Sensitive-Empowerment Community!
Highly Recommended: Subscribe to the weekly HSP newsletter at hspblog.com.
Recommended HSP books sensitivebooks.com
Online HSP Brain Training course hspcourse.com
Sensitivity Quiz! How Sensitive Are You?
Explore Julie’s website www.juliebjelland.com dedicated to providing information for highly sensitive people.
About Julie Bjelland, LMFT
Julie is a licensed psychotherapist, author, and founder of Sensitive Empowerment, an online global community for highly sensitive people. As a leader in the field of high sensitivity, Julie has helped thousands of highly sensitive people (HSP) around the world and is excited to empower sensitive people to access their gifts and truly flourish. As an HSP herself, Julie understands what it's like to live with high sensitivity and strong emotions, and is on a mission to empower HSPs to live their best lives.
Julie has developed proprietary tools and techniques to help reduce the challenges and increase the positives that HSPs experience on a daily basis. These techniques have been developed over the years of working with highly sensitive people and have proven extremely successful for her clients and students.
Global Sensitive Empowerment Community:
Julie’s Website: