For most of my early life, I lived in my mind, very disconnected from my body. I worried a lot, thought about everything deeply, and did everything I could to not feel my emotions. This trauma response helped me live a “normal” life, disconnected from the place (my body) that held my feelings and memories […]

A few years after I heard about Highly Sensitive People, I heard the term “empath”. I immediately related to the description of people who can tune into others’ emotions and often feel them as if they were their own. In fact, this ability to feel others’ emotions was one of the hardest parts for me […]

Have you noticed that the modern world isn’t built for highly sensitive people? I’m thinking about loud, hectic coffee shops where people go to “focus and get work done,” jobs where “fast-paced multi-tasking” and being “capable of handling multiple priorities at once” are listed in job descriptions, and industries where “ASAP” is the timeline for […]

For many years, I hid my sensitivity because I thought it was shameful and embarrassing. I thought that letting people see my deep thoughts and feelings would invite criticism and rejection. When I started learning that sensitivity was a trait that I shared with a fifth of the population, not a character flaw unique to me, […]