Savoring This Moment as a Highly Sensitive Person

This Is Not What I Ordered: conversations on chronic illness, loss + change

This week, I’m joined by returning guest, April Snow. She’s a psychotherapist and author of The Empowered Highly Sensitive Person's Journal and The Mindfulness Workbook for Stress Relief. Specializing in working with highly sensitive people (HSPs), April’s compelling experience in this vocation has greatly enhanced her profound understanding of what it means to live authentically.

Together, we explore the world of HSPs, discussing how being highly sensitive intersects with other aspects of our identities, along with the necessity and complexity of pursuing justice as HSPs. We explore the themes of grief, self-acceptance, the unique strengths of HSPs, and the beauty and challenges of embracing our sensitivity. You’re invited to share in these personal stories that touch upon the depth and richness of life that comes with being highly sensitive.

Episode Highlights:

• The nature of high sensitivity and its impact on our lives

• The ongoing process of embracing one's unique traits as an HSP and finding relief in self-acceptance

• Positive effects of deep emotional experiences and empathy in the lives of HSPs

• Emotional challenges that often accompany high sensitivity and how we cope with them

• Finding resonance and wonder in life's subtle details

• Cultural misunderstandings about sensitivity

• Celebrating the gift of being highly sensitive

• The significance of modeling self-acceptance for personal and professional growth

• How high sensitivity intersects with various identities and the challenges and strengths that arise from these intersections

• What our roles are as deeply feeling activists Quotes:

"When you're highly sensitive, you process information more deeply, feel everything more intensely, and take in subtleties in your environment more than most people."

"It's really important to self-calibrate and find other HSPs. Don't look outside for how to set up your life based on people who don't experience the world as you do."

"Discovering that I'm highly sensitive and having empathy for myself, letting it be okay to be different, is maybe the greatest work."

"Seeing someone fully embody excitement and exuberance, which only HSPs can feel so deeply, is really healing."

"I see what is possible. A lot of the parts of my experience that are the most important to me are because I'm highly sensitive."

"HSPs possess a unique kind of exuberance, appreciating and savoring the beauty of the present moment."

"HSPs often aren't taken as seriously when we notice those little details or we have different experiences when we're interacting with healthcare providers."

“We do have a purpose here. We have this trait for a reason.”

Links:

This Is Not What I Ordered

Lauren Selfridge

April Snow