Episode 136: HSPs & Sensory Overload with Julie and Willow
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Resources & Links Mentioned in Episode
To Join the Sensitive Empowerment Community, take Julie’s free Masterclasses for HSPs, and explore all resources for highly sensitive people at www.juliebjelland.com.
Show Notes
Quick Definition: Sensory overload is when our senses take in more information than our brain can keep up with processing.
Covering Today:
Problem: HSPs not living to their fullest potential and the world needs you
Purpose: educate and validate that Sensory Overload is a real experience & give you tools & support
Offer solutions for you to live your best life (helps teens and children too!)
From a poll: Sensory overload feels like:
Someone turned the volume up on everything
Feeling out of control
It’s like I can’t handle one more thing in my head. I become very irritated, and short tempered. I sometimes also feel like I am overcome with anxiety.
Emotional and verbal shutdown, inability to concentrate, headache, fatigue, irritability, feeling trapped, need to escape
There is too much of everything, and it's all coming at me . . . sights, sounds, smells, colors, actions, people, thoughts, pressure. My mind and body try to shut it all out. . . . I start to shut down . . . go numb and blank . . . need to get away . . . to quiet and peace
It's like electricity and light pulsing through my body, brain, and soul. Pure exhaustion and weight that I want free of. Makes me want to run and hide anywhere calm and peaceful
I feel like I’m in a daze and can’t really process what’s going on around me completely. Feels like my head is all foggy. It’s all overwhelming, and I can’t figure it out.
I can't think straight. My mind reels. A kind of slow panic. Feeling I need to escape as quickly as possible
DRAINING. Mental and physical energy are completely depleted
A bit like a panic attack. I get shaky, my chest tightens, and it’s hard to breathe. Instantly drained of all energy. And if I can’t remove myself from the situation, the room starts to spin, then I completely shut down.
Migraine
I always say my spidey senses are on overload!
Head pounding, energy drained, overwhelmed, anxious, emotional, tears will no doubt come.
I feel like my inside is spinning out of control with increasing anxiety. I want to run away to a safe and quiet place..
Heart palpitations, migraine, vertigo, anxiety, claustrophobia. Brain shuts down and goes into survival mode. Chaos! Circuit overload!
It starts as exhaustion, then escalates toward a panic attack. I also get extremely spacey. I have difficulty focusing on anything and make stupid mistakes. Afterwards, I am exhausted, and it can take me several days to recover
Cognitive and physical fatigue
Feeling raw and exhausted but being unable to relax
Anxiety: Like you’re underwater. Intense!!!!!
Irritation and exhaustion.
Overwhelming feeling of the need to get away from the person talking my head off
Suffocating
Can’t breathe or make decisions
Like my brain is pulsating or vibrating
My vision starts to blur, and I often get a headache. I get anxiety, and I have a hard time focusing
Heart start racing abnormally; heavy feeling in the brain; want to run away from meeting, complete energy loss
Like your brain is pushed to its absolute limit
My system goes into shock. I get dizzy, I can’t process ANYTHING mentally. My heart pounds, I may get nauseous. then, probably collapsed on the ground sobbing uncontrollably
We take in more data than the majority. When our brain is overwhelmed by this input, it enters the fight/flight/freeze mode making us want to flee or fight or we might shut down. Once that is activated everything changes!
We release chemicals into the body that can make our heart race, shift how our body uses oxygen and how it functions in general.
We might feel unwell and overwhelmed and lose access to our cognitive brain, lose focus and memory, have an emotional reaction/meltdown/anger burst/irritability
we might get digestive issues, rashes, headaches, migraines, and other Short term, long term health issues
Imagine that happening every day and what impact that might have on our health! Sensory overload is really hard sometimes and this is just a portion of our experience.
Solutions:
Acknowledge
Normalize
Validate
Mindset shift You aren’t “too sensitive”, the world is too loud and chaotic. You are born sensitive because the population needs a group of people taking in more data and who have higher levels of awareness. But society is not set up for our sensitivity levels and can often cause sensory overload (think about how loud garden equipment is or loud cars or motorcycles, bus brakes, airplanes, announcements, alarms), etc
Practice self-compassion instead of judgment (5 pounds vs 1000)
Be alone a couple of hours daily in quiet nature Try this Spend a few days alone in a quiet and peaceful nature setting and discover who you are without sensory overload! It’s life-changing to realize you can feel so much peace and bliss in nature. Plus creativity increases when you aren't in overload!
Practice “HSP” Self-care (balance lowers sensitivity challenges)
Advocate for your needs
Live consciously to lower sensory overload
Further Recommended Resources from Julie and Willow
Julie offers an online course that helps with Sensory Overload: Brain Training for the Highly Sensitive Person, Techniques to Reduce Anxiety and Overwhelming Emotions. HSPcourses.com
Willow’s High Sensory Coaching Program. This allows us to consciously witness the unique advantages of being able to process sensory information more deeply and how this can be used to create your own business as a coach, facilitator, healer or consultant. https://inluminance.com/the-training
About the Hosts
Julie Bjelland is the founder of Sensitive Empowerment. As a sensitivity expert and psychotherapist, her books, online courses, and Sensitive Empowerment Community have helped thousands of highly sensitive people (HSPs) worldwide reduce their challenges, access their gifts, and discover their significant value to thrive to their fullest potential. Known for her ability to teach HSPs proven brain-training tools that work quickly, Julie is on a mission to empower sensitive people to live their best lives. For more HSP resources and to take Julie’s free Sensitivity Quiz, visit JulieBjelland.com
Highly sensitive people thrive quickly with the right tools and I have loved helping highly sensitive people (HSPs) around the world reduce anxiety and thrive to their fullest potential. The techniques I have developed come from years of working with highly sensitive people all over the world and have been extremely successful for the clients and students I work with. Our life gets a lot better and so does the life of those around us when we are thriving and your sensitive self is beautiful and valuable. We need you in the world. ~Julie
Willow McIntosh is the founder of Inluminance and leader of the High Sensory Intelligence movement. Unique circumstances during Willow’s childhood lead to the burying of his authentic self and complete misalignment to the work he was destined for. He began to carve his own path into understanding how people with sensory processing sensitivity can learn to use their genetic traits to their advantage. As an adult this lead to a lifelong enquiry and practise into learning powerful energetic alignment techniques to re-engage with the authentic self. Willow believes that all people with the trait have the ability to tap into a unique skill that draws on a deeper sensory perception. Founded in their own life experience and self development they have the capacity to facilitate great transformation and development in others. Willow is on a mission to awaken us to the responsibility we have to utilise the abilities it affords in business, governments and leadership. Having successfully facilitated the development of seven figure businesses Willow’s practise has taken him all over the world. Speaking internationally, training in a broad range of fields and facilitating others for more than twenty years. Willow now specialises in facilitating people with the trait to activate them into service in alignment with their gifts and purpose and to support them to take their own businesses to the next level towards automation and leadership.
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