81: Navigating Emotion as a Highly Sensitive Person

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Are you someone who is highly sensitive to the emotions? Maybe you're highly sensitive when it comes to reading others microexpressions, tone, and body language. If so, it's highly likely that sometimes you struggle with not only others emotions, but your own emotions around others having feelings.

If you are highly sensitive to the emotional state of others, it can be really easy to assume that YOU are the ones responsible for the upset. But this isn't always the case.

Before over-owning your contribution to a situation and getting caught up in your own worry loop, slow it down and gather more information.

For example, rather than assuming that someone is upset with you, ask how they are doing:

"You're more quiet than usual. Are you doing ok?"
"You seem upset. How are you?"
"What's up?"

Asking questions helps to bring more clarity to the situation while also providing an opportunity for both parties to own and process their own emotions.

Second, learn now to manage your own emotions.

Highly sensitive people want to feel good which often times means making sure everyone around them feels good, too.  This means doing whatever they can do to placate others.

The thing is, when we invest our energy into placating and managing others emotions, we are not managing our own emotions.

And while we can influence how others feel, we can't control their emotions.

Learning to feel and process our own emotions AND allowing others the opportunity to learn how to feel and process their emotions is a sign of emotional maturity.

Remember, trying to manage others' emotions denies them the chance to learn and grow. Embrace uncertainty, let go of control, and practice open communication.

Want to learn more? Come and listen to this weeks podcast episode! If you find this helpful, share it with a friend or leave a review.

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