What Made You Take the First Step Toward Empowerment?

I get so inspired by all the HSPs that are taking steps toward empowerment! When an HSP is empowered they thrive and help others in the world. In my brain training course, I ask HSPs the question, What made you take the first step toward empowerment and here were some of their responses…

• To gain a better understanding of how to help myself thrive, and my daughter thrive. To even perhaps find my next step in my career using the skills I have to help other HSP.

• I am really convinced that Julie can teach me to get my nervous system under control. I commit to follow the whole program to the best off My ability.

• I have felt like I lacked the tools to deal with my high sensitivity my entire life and I feel like Julie is the right person to teach me these tools so that I feel like I can start to thrive & embrace my true gifts instead of trying to fit into a mold. I intend to commit fully to the work in this course & engage w the community.

• To live my best life for me and my family, improve my negative reactions and communication with others, build confidence, learn tools to better manage stress and anxiety.

• I was drawn to this program after hearing about HSP from a colleague. I have struggled my entire life to understand my overstimulated nervous system, and have felt there was something wrong with me. I've done so much work on myself to continuously evolve and be happy and healthy. I have a life-long commitment to personal growth, self-love and healing, and giving my unique gifts to the world. I believe that's what we are here to do. It's so exciting to be on this journey and to have found another set of tools to help me, as well as a community of like-minded people with the same innate traits. I am a coach, and this will help me help others in addition to myself. Thanks Julie!

• I have been feeling very anxious for a long time and changes in my circumstances have not changed those feelings. I'm ready to work to feel better and have a clearer mind. There is no better time to start than now, the beginning of a new year.

• I've struggled with anxiety my entire adult life and feel that I'm an HSP empath. My "gifts" are affecting my close relationships due to not knowing how to communicate my needs, as well as control my emotions when feeling overwhelmed. I want to learn and embrace all of me and show up for life.

• I am extremely sensitive and yet this wasn't recognized growing up. not only was it not recognized, but I felt very unsafe and it just wasn't safe enough to be sensitive. I am a Coach and Speaker and as a coach, I want to understand this trait more so I can further empower my clients to empower themselves. I also have a duty to myself to recognize how the message of being sensitive is weak and insufficient has caused me to be incredibly cruel to myself when it comes to accepting my sensitivity. I am an extreme HSS also and this side often wins. What I would like to get out of this course is: 1. to understand the trait in much more detail inc the differences in the brain 2. to be able to reduce overwhelm so my incredible gifts can shine and I can start to make the impact I was born to make in the world. 3. to feel proud of being highly sensitive to the point I can tell everyone. 4. to know how I can marry the HSP and HSS so they compliment each other and cause the other to thrive.

• I want to live and not just survive each day. My intention is to learn how to live peacefully and joyfully in this world. I'd like to re-discover my talents and gifts and appreciate them with my whole heart. I commit to the next 8 weeks to go through the program, enjoy the assignments and test the waters with the community.

• I need to find help to establish boundaries between what I am feeling and what others are feeling. Learning how to show empathy, without being buried under the burden of others' feelings.

• I just learned I am an HSS-HSP-Extrovert and it makes so much sense about so many things in my life. There are so many times I have felt nuts, but it turns out it is these competing traits pulling me in different directions. I just want to understand this more so I can be proactive in taking care of myself and improving my relationships with others.

• The reason I have taken the first step is that I have in the last few weeks, decided to take my life back after many years of caring extensively for others in my career as a nurse, guiding and supporting family members through traumatic times over many years and encountering extensive changes to my work environment and duties related to covid restrictions, and this has impacted my health and well-being greatly, and I have decided after all these years of giving and being overloaded, it was now time for ME to find myself again and be free to be ME instead of being the person everyone around me has wanted and needed me to be. I commit myself wholely to make time for ME, by working towards recognizing my full potential, and to become my "authentic self" and to cherish and nurture myself and my gifts, and to be confidently able to share them with others

• I want to experience life NOT in survival mode. I want to live and enjoy life instead of just surviving it.

• I have been covering up my sensitivity my whole life. I was taught it wasn't ok, so I judged it too. Now I am choosing to own it, and move toward self-acceptance and self-love. Covering up this trait just left me with pain and sadness, so now I'm embracing it. My intention is to feel better and help other HSPs feel the same.

• I have just discovered that I am an HSP (didn't know that existed!). I have for so long felt bad about needing so much time and space for myself. This is a huge relief.

• Irritability. I didn't realize irritability was a symptom of this trait when not in balance. I thought there was something wrong with me and that I was not a good person. I am investing in these courses to help myself to live my best life. I want to have a better understanding of myself and my gifts without shame. I want to make a positive difference in the world.

• I am committed to further learning how to manage my HSP trait so that it serves me and others and my relationships rather than resenting it and it damaging my relationships. Current and future. I commit to learning all as if I have never learned this before.

• I very recently recognized that I was highly sensitive and currently feel as though I am falling apart. I am ready to find better ways to manage these gifts than living in constant fear and anxiety.

• I am tired of feeling like I don't fit in, people looking at me as if I am from another planet, also I can walk into a room a feeling everyone's energy. I am grateful for a discerning spirit, but at the same time, this can be overwhelming. I want to learn how to control my emotions, set up boundaries, and make them work in my favor.

• I feel a lot of stress and anxiety due to being an HSP and because of it, I have difficulties living a joyful life. I want to learn more about the trait and the different tools and I am ready to accept myself fully and be happy.

• I want to understand myself better

• I really appreciate the opportunity to really love myself

• I took a job about 5 years ago that completely overwhelmed me with sensory input. I was picking up on emotions (at the time which I thought were my own) and was having "weird" thoughts or "visions" play out in my head that I thought were my own. I would find myself escaping to a closet in the building for quiet or going outside to take a break from all the input. That's when my wife suggested that I was possibly an HSP. That was the beginning of this journey of understanding myself better. I began to understand that I was picking up (and absorbing) other people's emotions and even their thoughts. I had been all my life, but this job amplified this and brought it to light. Due to COVID, I lost that job last year. That was such a gift to me, but now I find myself picking up on the worldwide phenomenon energy of fear, terror, sadness, and isolation. It's been a struggle to keep boundaries with that energy and it exhausts me. Before this job, looking back, I can see that I have always been an HSP. As a child, I was very sensitive and more often than not, misunderstood. I've struggled all my life with anxiety attacks, panic attacks and have been diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder. Maybe this diagnosis is not quite correct. Maybe, all along I have been an HSP. So, all that said, I am hoping this course will help me to understand myself better and enable me to live my best life, to love and accept myself, using my gift(s) to make a difference in my sphere of influence.

• I feel overwhelmed, ineffective and depressed. It’s been a tough year, and hearing all the trauma in the world I feel sad that I am unable to help. I want to balance myself, so I can help others

• After learning about this trait and reading the reactions/feelings HSPs have in situations, it's as though I found the missing puzzle piece that explains me and why I feel/react the way I do. Learning how to work with this trait will help me understand exactly what is causing my anxiety and how to avoid heightened stress during these times. I am committed to working through this course and putting in the effort to help me move past the limits I have placed on myself and/or experienced because of the trait.

• My doc says my body isn't healing due to my high levels of anxiety, so I've been searching for help to fix this. After scoring 44 on the HSP test and being an empath too... I'm hopeful that this training and community will be my saving grace <3 I'm dedicating the next 8 weeks to learn how to grow into my full power so that I can live my best life possible... As I raise myself up, I will lift all those around me. Makes me think of my favorite quote... "Be the change that you wish to see in the world" ~ Mahatma Gandhi

• I've been following you for a while and saw your post on the HSP course and read it and it feels really important> I just went through a breakup that made me realize I need more tools to not be so affected and overwhelmed emotionally. I also have many clients I believe might be HSP (I am a coach) -- and learning Somatic Practices and learning more and more about the nervous system and the brain is my jam!

• Listening to the HSP podcasts has been soothing and helpful as I am dealing with a period of grief and depression. My intention is to do what I can to understand myself, how I got to this point, and create a healing environment in my life. My commitment is to do the weekly exercises in the course and keep up to date with the community readings/content.

• My intention is to increase my knowledge and coping skills to better manage my anxiety so I can feel better overall, feel more joy, and be more present with my partner/dogs/clients. I am committed to spending at least 1-2 hours each week on this course.

• I am tired of feeling overwhelmed and anxious. I resonated with everything that was said in the Masterclass and believe this will be a new way to navigate thru life. I am worth it!

• Just tired of anxiety and/or depression w/sensitivity ruling my emotions. I seem to be getting more exhausted by life in general, Ready to do what I can to change.

• The anxiety during this past year has been hard, but also some circumstances changed, thus I had been looking for a way to change the way I react.

• I intend to develop my best authentic self, living a life of balance and empowerment to the fullest of my abilities. I’m starting this course today and I’m committed to the daily appointment with myself.

• So that I can better understand myself, my behaviors, and what I need to be happy and healthy.

• In this season of my life with a newborn, I don’t feel I’m being my best. I feel I need support and tools to help me take good care of myself and of my family.

• My first intention is to know myself better. I have been on a path of increased self-knowledge, self-development, and I am still struggling with recurrent issues, like anxiety, fears, overwhelming emotions, and regular negative thoughts spirals. I know I have a very big potential, but I am still struggling to contact it. This would be my second intention: reconnect with my internal power. My 3rd intention would be to get unstuck from the present situation: I am longing to start my own business for the last couple of years, and I am still struggling to step into it, taking the 1st step, mostly because of fears and also because I am surrounded by people who do not understand me and my difficulties.

• My intention is to learn techniques to help me find peace and calm in my HSP heart and soul and learn how to navigate through the journey of trauma and grief recovery and grow into my unique gifts. Also to have a community of like-minded people to help validate and normalize my experience while sharing my journey with others.

• I’ve always known I was an HSP but I wasn’t proud of it and wanted to change. Now I realize I shouldn’t change and be proud of who I am.

• I'm tired of living this way and it's time to take this leap toward lasting and healing change.

• I want to commit to working on managing the overwhelm I can feel sometimes, my energy levels, and reactions to other people. This is so I can be a more balanced and grounded person for my son and at work.

• I have repeatedly seen the impact overstimulation has on me and in my life. When I manage to take care of myself and rest I have seen my best self but I cannot do it intentionally because I don't know how, sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail. So I need the knowledge to navigate my nervous system. I have searched for that knowledge but haven't been able to find it. I hope I can find it here.

• I can’t weather one more emotional storm when I already “work on myself” so much. I am ready to use the tools specific to my highly sensitive body to make lasting change. I want to thrive as my radiant, magical, energetic self. I want my daughter to grow up witnessing my radiance and health as an HSP and I want my husband to benefit from having a partner who mirrors his shine and is not so tired all the time. I want to feel at peace and be in radical love with myself.

• I want to get control over my emotions and channel my gift of high sensitivity in the right direction

• I want to take back control of my life. Be rooted and mighty like the oak. A pillar in my community. A source of strength for others. I want to be a balanced, nourished, thriving woman.

• I read about you and your commitment to helping people who are hyper-sensitive recognizing myself. My physical body has a vulnerability when I am stressed and I need to overcome and vanquish that vulnerability.

• I want to change. Stop being anxious and feeling bad. I want to be a balanced woman for my children, my husband, and for me

• I am ready to stop fighting myself and accept all the unique abilities and gifts that already reside within me. I know that once I have learned about myself and how to properly handle the overwhelm, I will be able to fulfill my purpose of giving back to the universe. I have taken a break from the workforce to fully focus on myself and this course, with the intention of finding a career that will align my gifts and abilities with the desires of my heart.

• I want to learn how to use tools to work with my HSP trait so I can go from surviving to thriving and be able to live up to my potential. I am not going to let it control me and keep me from my best self anymore!

• I'm tired of being a prisoner of my brain.

• This last week has been an especially difficult time in a year of unprecedented challenges. The weight of anxiety became completely overwhelming, and I took it out on those closest to me. For so long I have believed (and have perhaps been conditioned by society at large to believe) that something is fundamentally 'wrong' with me because I feel things so deeply; that I will never be able to fulfill my dreams; and that my life has no real meaning or purpose, despite how much I care. I have felt totally stuck. I think I reached a type of rock bottom, from which the only way - hopefully - is up. Serendipity played a part in finding this course, and having mulled it over for 24 hours, I felt ready to give myself the gift of positive change. I am committed to gaining a greater understanding of myself and to mastery of the tools necessary to protect myself better whilst tapping into my gifts. I hope I will be able to contribute more to the world and gain more genuine fulfillment.

• I want to thrive as a highly sensitive person. I don't want my inability to manage my nervous system and a myriad of thoughts and overwhelm to stop me from living.

• I heard about HSP about a week ago while searching for solutions in regards to my immune system issues and also the deep depression that is overwhelming me. After reading about HSP, I understood what has been happening ever since I can remember. Now that I have exhausted all of my resources, with barely any hope, physically and mentally drained, I have no other alternative than to commit to this course. I commit to get better and dedicate this effort to my Husband, whom I love, and to my children.

• I have lived as an HSP all my life. I have been fortunate in that I have learned to muscle through being highly sensitive to achieve goals in my career and in my personal life. My problem is my internal environment. I would like to stop feeling so anxious, reactive, overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and sleep-deprived. I am committed to learning ways to help myself.

• I took this course so that I could learn more about being an HSP and how to manage my mind around my sensitivities and superpowers of the trait. I also hope to coach others in my own coaching practice so I'm here to learn as much as I can before I go on to help others.

• I want to thrive instead of simply surviving day to day, and I want to be the best possible parent to our son.

• Looking for the tools to use to help with anxiety and overwhelm. I am on an incredible healing journey and it is important to me to NOT bypass my emotions. I realize in Julie's description of the course that is what this course provides. So I will use what I learn from this course to help aid me with tools to overcome my symptoms while still on the journey to my healing completion.

• I have been having a hard time lately and see how resistant I am to getting help and helping myself. I want to not let my emotions and sensitivity run my life. Life can feel so hard this way. I am committed to this course and actually taking the time to learn and do the exercises and tools. I intend to really learn to take care of myself and learn to have self-compassion.

• Tired of my emotional brain being in charge. INTENTION to learn how to balance my nervous system by weekly participation in this course.

• I want to feel alive and present in my life. I want to have more control over my feelings. I want to be my best self for my loved ones, my work, myself.

• I have known for over a decade that I am an HSP. But I have never taken intentional steps to integrate this trait into my life in a way that leads to thriving, peace, and joy. Over the past several months, the pain of not integrating has overwhelmed me to the point of determining that I will seek help in making this trait work for me.

• Managing my energy

• My anxiety is affecting my blood pressure. I am so scared that my anxiety will ultimately kill me through a stroke or heart attack. I am taking higher bp meds but I obsessively think about my physical state and my anxiety level; if my physical symptoms are increasing my bp. I am so overwhelmed with my life I am afraid I will not be able to keep my job or take care of my kids.

• My intention is to learn how to embrace and care for myself as an HSP so that I can live a full and meaningful life. I commit to loving and nurturing myself and staying open-minded about this journey and this path.

• I have visited this HSP website many times; continue to retake the quiz many times and I know that I could benefit from a deeper understanding. After years of feeling "different" and saying "it is hard to be me" or "what is really going on here", I need to face this and go deeper. Now I want to try this course to see if implementing the tools can help me with better insight into the truth. Thank you. I am all in.

• I am tired of feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. I've done other work but it's been more general and not targeted at HSPs. I want to be true to who I am by accepting all parts of me and honoring them, but also understanding what I can do intuitively to support myself. I want to be calmer and more resilient and I want to sleep! I commit to doing at least an hour a week to complete the course and practicing all the activities.

• To learn more about the neuroscience of my HSP trait and specific ways to use this to support balancing my unique needs.

• The realization that I have control over my own life. Also, I started to think "I do not have to live by rules that were initially set up for me." I want to speak to myself like I'm a best friend, a mentor. I want to show up for myself, and empower those around me as well.

• After years and years of feeling weak and affected by everyone's mood, response, body language, tone, etc. I am finally ready to live MY life to the fullest, happiest, and calmest I can. I deserve better than what I have been giving myself. I want peace.

• It was recommended to me because of the way I respond to my emotions.

• It's time to take control of my anxiety instead of it controlling my life. I want to commit to learning more about being an HSP instead of trying to mask it and be more comfortable with those emotions so I can be more myself and be more healthy inside and out.

• My intention is to continue learning about myself as an HSP through this course. I want to understand the tools and resources to understand my emotions and how I process different situations. I’m committed to this program and to my intentions as I’m currently in a state of healing. So many signs are pointing to this moment.

• My relationship is suffering due to me being easily triggered emotionally. I don't know how to ask for what I want or to deal with all the stress in my life. I am really suffering a lot right now and I want to lead a happier, easier life.

• I am tired of my body always being in survival mode/fight or flight. I also want to explore my creativity without feeling blocked all the time.

• My health is deteriorating. I need to heal to continue to live.

• I want to take better care of myself so that I can shine that out into the world around me. I’m tired of feeling like a burden because of my sensitivity. I want it to be, instead, a superpower.

• I signed up for this course as my present to myself - to understand my personality and use it to help build a meaningful and intentional life for myself.

• I'm worthy of a fulfilled life, despite my own misgivings about being an HSP

• I'm committing towards overcoming my anxiety & moving forward with my life Helping People.

• I have a lot of ideas- Fears- changes to be made and don’t know where to start

• Anxiety is seriously affecting my quality of life, and I want to learn how to improve that.

• I have traveled through my life feeling like an empty shell. I very much want to have a life that is happy and content, feeling that I want to live each day being motivated and free from my internal blockages. I am taking your course in the hope that I can find contentment and happiness.

• As I’m preparing to launch my coaching business, I recognized that I needed some additional HSP support. I want to expand my ability to resource and calm my nervous system, especially during and after doing clairvoyant readings and healings or coaching sessions. I want to feel more sovereign and empowered.

• I’ve known for many years that I am an HSP but training like this was not available when I discovered the trait. Life continues to be challenging and I’m exhausted and burned out. I want to live in a way that honors me and feels better than barely making it through each day.

• I want to understand myself better and understand my blocks to personal fulfillment and happiness. I want to find my true purpose.

• I've had enough of feeling different and my sensitivity not fitting into this world.

• Struggling to release fear & anxiety

• I am a psychotherapist. I love connecting with my clients, helping, and supporting them. But I am exhausted. I need to help myself first, learn and grow as an HSP so that I can keep going. I need tools.

• I am taking on more leadership roles in my community and have noticed how much more good I am able to do when my energy is not depleted. I want to learn more about how to manage my energy by reducing my reactions to sensitivities, so I can be happier and able to do more good and thrive in my new roles. I also want to sleep better! Finally, all my self-improvements are always for the good of my son and husband, who love me dearly and deserve to have the best mom and wife I can be.

• The glimpse of hope to feel free again

• I feel like I have overcommitted myself, once again, in volunteer work, but I think I do that because it is one of my few connections to other people and I feel that I have accomplished something when I engage in tasks that beforehand seem overwhelming. Or I am suffering from free-floating anxiety? Anyway, my feelings of stress over the last couple of weeks prompted me to look for help.

• The timing was right - is right - and things seemed to fall into place and point me in this direction. I'm getting ready to start on a lot of new things in my life right now, and I want to be able to be bold and present these new chapters with my best self. I want to not only regain what I've felt I've lost but to build so much more, so much stronger and confident a person. I can nearly touch the edge of the life I could have, now I am ready to take the steps to possess it.

• My intention is to feel more at peace. I will do my best to commit to this course every week.

• I recently discovered the HSP trait and I'm amazed at how strongly it resonates with me. I long to learn more and hopefully achieve some relief from the parts of high sensitivity that are very hard for me and affect those around me and also learn how to appreciate and capitalize on the positive aspects of being an HSP.

• My intention in taking this course is to create a life where I feel balanced and avoid overwhelm and burnout and feel confident to fulfill my dreams (becoming a mother, starting a charity organization or business of my own).

• I want to be more disciplined in attaining my goals. Commitment has been a struggle of mine for years and realizing I am an HSP makes sense in my daily struggles. I want to work on myself more.

• Honestly, I am struggling so much to the point that I do not know how to function in my day-to-day life. I want to stop being so reactive and I want a handle on my sensitivities.

• I had an anxiety attack and I'd like to avoid having any more.

Isn’t it incredibly inspiring to read all of these?! I love this so much because HSPs know deep down inside there is a better way to live. I certainly relate to feeling like I was in survival mode for a big part of my life and once I learned how to balance my sensitive nervous system and use tools to help me thrive in a world not set up for sensitivity my life completely transformed. It’s my mission to help HSPs thrive to their fullest potential and live fully! Notice how many HSPs shared they want to help others or be there for their family in a more balanced way.

You deserve to live your life fully. Who will benefit when you do?

I invite you to learn more about my brain training course

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Julie Bjelland is a Psychotherapist specializing in high sensitivity, host of The HSP Podcast, and Founder of the Sensitive Empowerment Community, whose mission is to create a paradigm shift where sensitivity is embraced, valued, and honored. Julie offers multiple essential resources for educating, inspiring, and empowering HSPs.

Register for her free Masterclasses and profoundly transform your life in her courses and community.

Her HSP Dating Group is a safe space bringing together conscious, kind, caring HSPs (both Hetero and LGBTQ+).

Her HSPs in Business Group supports and empowers sensitive people to grow heart-centered businesses, share their voices, and be part of the change the world needs.

Explore Julie’s website dedicated to supporting HSPs and download a free letter to give medical and mental health professionals about high sensitivity.  JulieBjelland.com❤️🌈❤️ (she/her)