There are both advantages and disadvantages to being sensitive. It is perfectly normal to respond emotionally to an event, whether that is positively or negatively. You could be quick to show appreciation or understanding of someone else’s feelings. But if you are hasty to showing negative emotions during stressful times, it can do more harm than good in your personal and work relationships.
But the important thing is how well you detect, define, and manage these feelings. The key lies in your ability to convert your beliefs into something productive. You can use your emotions to motivate you to work harder, avoid danger, or improve a situation. But for the people who are too sensitive, they shrink in certain moments, block people off, and do not positively communicate their feelings.
In this article, we examine the different strategies and mindsets that you can use to be less sensitive. You can utilize your emotion in ways that bring you to a higher level. It all begins with your mindset and your vision of yourself. The goal is not for you to change your feelings, but your reaction and use of your feelings.
Ask Yourself Why You are Feeling the Way You Are
The first step in becoming less sensitive is understanding and connecting with your feelings more. There is a reason for every emotional reaction to something that comes our way. Instead of proceeding with words and actions blindly, you should take a moment to step back, breathe, and define the situation. it is easy to suppress a negative feeling but focus on a real game plan to convert it into productive action.
It is valuable for you to define triggers for your emotions. Are there certain people, types of situations, or events that spark nervousness or negative feeling? You should be aware of these conditions and spot them ahead of time. By identifying these triggers, you can better manage your reactions and the way you feel. Outline small habits that you can incorporate to transform these emotions.
If someone wrongs you, do not focus on the action itself, but the motivation behind it. You can better understand others and yourself by knowing what causes your sensitivity. You should be mindful of analyzing the situation, thinking before you speak, and then communicating politely and calmly. If you remain calm in the face of stress, you will grow as a person and set an excellent example for others.
Reframe Your Perspective
It is not always about what was said, but how you interpret what was said. Most sensitive people have trained their brains over time to:
- Feel threatened – they assume that someone or something is trying to harm or belittle them
- Overreact – respond in a way that is backed by intense or negative emotion
- Withdraw – they will then close themselves off and not communicate openly with other people
This kind of system promotes sensitive behavior, and it is a sign of weak emotional intelligence. Instead of feeling like you are getting threatened, take a moment to think and discover. Instead of if you know the intent behind what someone said or did to you, seek out more information. This extra effort will bring new insights to the table and offer you a more thoughtful way of responding to the situation.
When you finally respond, take as much negative emotion as you can out of it. You can react if it is one of positivity and motivation to understand the other person’s frame of mind. And instead of closing yourself off and withdrawing from the conversation, be open and honest about how you feel so that you can talk through an issue with someone strategically.
Journal Your Thoughts Daily
The habit of daily journaling is another beneficial strategy for you to process and document your feelings. It is useful for you to be open and talk to others that you trust, but it is equally vital to let your mind flow in the open air or on paper. Your thoughts do no good just swimming up in your brain without any application. Writing them down allows you to expand and develop your ideas about yourself and others.
Journaling is an excellent way to document your journey of becoming less sensitive. You should make a note of times when you reacted emotionally, and whether these feelings were positive or negative. Congratulate yourself on moments where you were self-aware and handled yourself with grace. Make sure you document your triggers and what causes you to feel a certain way.
Lastly, you need to set goals for yourself and monitor your progress through your journaling. These goals should be short-term that you place daily or weekly, as well as areas of improvement in the long run. Self-authoring is one of the best ways for you to reach your full potential because you stay accountable for yourself through your developmental journey.
Practice Self-Affirmations
Earl Nightingale said in his “Strangest Secret” audio tape that you become what you think about. If you fill your head with negative thoughts, you will slowly start to believe that you are not a valuable person. Your lower self-esteem will then cause you to assume the worst and overreact emotionally to people and situations. It should be your goal to reinforce positive encouragement to yourself daily.
Imposter syndrome is another way in which we remain critical of ourselves no matter what. Even when we do something well, we find a way to put ourselves down mentally. Treat your mind and your body like a template, and that includes immersing it with correct, uplifting faults. Congratulate yourself on even the small tasks, like getting somewhere on time, completing a job, or teaching yourself new information.
While it may seem like life is challenging, your inner critic is often your most prominent challenger. When you can master yourself and optimize your lens of the world, you can become unstoppable. This path to success begins with the things you say to yourself daily. When you wake up each morning, focus on answering the following phrases to yourself:
- I am healthy
- I am happy
- I am able
- I matter to someone today
- I will improve my life today
- I will improve someone else’s life today
- I am loved
Look for the Positive Aspects of Every Situation
It is not always the focus of what you are doing, how much money you make, or what happens to you. But your mindset and what you think about something is much more critical. You should train yourself to take all events that happen to you and frame it in a positive, hopeful way going forward. If you make a mistake, appreciate the lesson that it taught you. The misstep could be the beginning of a new trail.
Keep an open mind when you are in a negative situation. Instead of sulking or closing people off to cope with a stressful event, use it as an opportunity to create a positive solution that provides value to the other people around you. It is also vital for you to see the positive qualities of the people around you. This mindset enables you to react positively and gracefully toward what other people say to you.
You need to see your life as an opportunity and path to something greater, rather than a downhill means to an end. If you remain hopeful and energized to strengthen current relationships and build new ones, this positivity will shine through your demeanor. Good luck will seem like it is attracted to you. Restrain yourself from spending energy on things that make you angry and focus on positives.
Create Healthy Boundaries
Overly sensitive people are great at freezing and toughening up. This mindset causes them to block people off and build walls around themselves to prevent others from understanding them. The four most common barriers that sensitive people make include:
- Emotional – giving resentment to others and talking down to them prevents people from warming up to you
- Dramatic – this includes blowing up a situation and making it more serious or intense than what it should be
- Physical – this derives from negative body language, such as closed posture, hard facial expressions, and avoiding eye contact
- Mental – these boundaries include separating yourself from the world through alcohol and drugs
In each of these areas, you should explore healthy ways to avoid overreacting to other people and situations. When it comes to emotions, keep calm, and communicate in a way that seeks to understand and connect. When you want to blow off steam, participate in exercise or mood-boosting activities. If you are improving yourself mentally, find time to meditate, and practice mindfulness.
Your daily habits should embody firm personal boundaries. When you say “no” to people, communicate it with love. You should also budget vital time to recharge and reconnect with your emotions and motivations.
Participate in Mood-Boosting Activities
Another excellent way for you to become less sensitive is to invest your time in activities that strengthen your mind and body. As you navigate through life, find your “pockets of peace,” which are habits that allow you to step into your brain and fill a space that promotes happy, positive, and productive thoughts and feelings. No matter what goes on at work or home, these are all non-negotiable activities.
These mood-boosting habits can include sitting down and drinking a relaxing cup of coffee or tea. Another great thing to do is at least 30-60 minutes of physical exercise every day, which could mean walking, playing a sport, or lifting weights. Physical exertion releases mental chemicals called endorphins, which creates a positive feeling and happiness that translates to your healthier overall mindset.
You can also strengthen your mind by investing more knowledge into your brain. Make time to seek out information about subjects in which you are passionate about. Read a book or article, listen to a podcast, or have a mentally stimulating conversation with a friend. Focusing your mind on things that it loves will contribute to a heightened level of mental health, which makes you less sensitive.
Listen to What Your Body is Telling You
It is easy to become consumed with the demands of life. We sometimes become stressed in our efforts to fulfill every role for us. We want to perform well at work, be there as a parent, sibling, or family member. As you focus on fulfilling the needs of others all the time, it could cause you to divert attention from taking care of the most important person, which is yourself.
Highly sensitive people also tend to ignore the messages that their body is telling them. The average human being does not get the recommended hours of sleep each night. Your body can tell you this in a variety of ways. Your mind may not be as sharp, your attention span could be lacking, you yawn, or you just feel less organized or in control of your daily schedule.
It may not always be comfortable, but you should trust your body to guide you. Do not hesitate to budget time to recharge, exercise every day, or rest extra if you are feeling extra sore or tired on a given day. When it comes to your diet, keep it consistent across the board and make sure that you get your recommended level of calories in the form of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in your meals.
Take a Deep Breath Before Responding to Someone
Many overly sensitive people listen with the intent to respond right away. By always having a response ready, this prevents you from taking a step back and forming a thoughtful reply to what someone else is saying. You need to wait a couple of seconds before responding to someone. This step allows the other person to vocalize everything they are saying, and it gives you time to empathize and understand.
You can implement this by taking a deep breath before you say something back to the other person. Breaking after someone else finishes talking shows that you have been actively listening within the conversation. If you pause before you speak, it makes your words carry more weight. By allowing silence within the discussion, the dialogue will marinate, and the other person will be tuned in to your thoughts.
A deep breath does wonders for your emotional levels. If you exhale silently, it releases a lot of the negative thoughts and feelings that you might feel in the heat of a moment. It may also impact your delivery because you will not be as intense while talking, which can put others at ease and prevent emotion from playing a significant part.
Be Aware of Your Body Language
Over half of a message gets communicated through nonverbal cues and body language. When you react to a person or situation, it is not always about what you say but how you say it. You could be lying through your teeth, but if someone catches a hint of negative body language, your sensitivity could project outward. Be mindful of your facial expressions, posture, hand gestures, and tone of voice.
An example of negative body language is crossing your arms. While this may be a way for us to feel comfortable, it communicates disinterest in someone else and what they are saying. Your eye contact is also a significant factor in your nonverbal communication. When you listen or speak, you should focus your attention on the other person. Your eyes may wander sometimes but keep them focused.
Avoid other negative gestures like eye-rolling, closed posture, and deflective hand gestures. Overly sensitive people who tend to hide their feelings and deflect a conversation will cover their mouth and nose with their hand while they talk. You should avoid doing this at all costs if you want to create an open and honest dialogue. Be forthright and interested in connecting with others and communicating feelings.
Practice Mindfulness
Daily mindfulness and meditation have a multitude of mental health benefits. Even if it is for only ten minutes a day, you should always budget time to connect your mind and your body on a peaceful level. Meditation allows you to work on your breathing: breathe in with the positive energy and release the bad energy through your exhales. As you connect with your thoughts, you will understand yourself better.
When you meditate, your goal is also to visualize what the most optimal version of yourself looks like. Think back to a time where you felt most comfortable, positive, and at ease. You should immerse yourself in what this moment was like, and then duplicate it to other stressful areas of your life and highlight your sensitivity. As you meditate, welcome all types of thoughts to your brain to have a productive session.
When you get done with your regular meditation, it will leave your mind calmer and more precise. You will have a game plan to go out and maximize your day. You will feel more in control of your daily interactions because you have already simulated a feeling of calmness and coolness. Your self-esteem will get raised because you are more confident in your ability to convert your passions into useful actions.
Recognize the True Value of Criticism
The most common time to be sensitive is when we receive criticism from others. This feeling is prevalent in the workplace when we receive feedback from our peers. Our brains are not comfortable with other people telling us to change our way of practice or thinking. But people who are not overly sensitive find ways to reframe their minds and see criticism as a good thing, which promotes overall growth.
The first thing to do is recognize that criticism is a way for you to improve. Because critiquing is designed to help you get better at something, it might seem negative at first. If the person is genuinely invested in your growth, you will be able to feel the sincerity and understand where they are coming from. If you are not sure what the criticism means, you should ask for clarification.
If you approach each conversation with the mindset of learning, if you are a student of yourself, you should always be looking for ways to improve as a professional, a communicator, and a performer. As you navigate through life, be open to the constructive criticism that you receive because people may see you differently than you do.
As you receive feedback from others, react with positivity and gratitude. Take time to thank the person for pushing you to be the best version of yourself. The other person will perceive you as being kind and will come back to you in the future with ways to better yourself.
Talk to Yourself Like You Would a Close Friend
It may feel weird about advising ourselves at times, but you should treat yourself like you would a close friend or family member. When these people come to us for a conversation, we connect with them emotionally and provide genuine advice to make them feel better. Whenever you are stressed, you should do the same thing for yourself, which can be beneficial in the long run.
You should work on forgiving yourself properly as well. When people that we trust make mistakes, we often empathize with them and forgive them. You should be kind to yourself and recognize that failures happen. Understand that you are human and that you will improve. Tell yourself that things will get better and that you can reach your goals.
Think about how you treat your loved ones. Chances are your relationships with them are strong because of the way you interacted with them and connected emotionally. You should align your actions in these relationships to the way you treat yourself and react to all types of people. Treat yourself like a friend, and you will feel less sensitive in those stressful moments.
Spend Good Amounts of Time Outside
An underrated way to make yourself less sensitive is to spend more time outside. There are many benefits to taking in the fresh air that correlate with stress management. When you are out, you get exposed to Vitamin D, which promotes a happier mood. Connecting yourself with nature teaches you to slow down, look around you, and focus on the joyful benefits of the present.
Your time spent outside also allows you to connect with yourself. When you breathe in the fresh air, you can perform a mini-meditation. By being out and solidifying your mind and body, you can understand yourself and your emotions a lot better, which will serve you well in future conversations.
Your relieved stress from being outside will translate to more positive interactions at work and in personal life. You have trained your brain to remain calm and collected in times of stress, which will allow you to maximize the present moment better. You will focus on taking deep breaths before speaking, which reduces the chance of you reacting emotionally to someone.
Get Healthy Amounts of Sleep
Many overly sensitive people underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep. A deficient amount of sleep carries over into your next day, which impacts your quality of interactions, your mental sharpness, and your level of self-awareness and stress management. We are often too focused on cramming everything into our day that we do not set ourselves up for a healthy pre-sleep routine.
There are many ways for you to get a better night’s sleep. You should avoid drinking caffeine in the afternoon each day. You can find energy from other natural sources instead of increasing your blood pressure. As you wind down for the night, try your best to limit screen time within 1-2 hours of closing your eyes for good. When you retire for the night, ensure that you have the proper temperature and lighting.
Your morning routine and wake up is also equally important. You should ensure that you wake up to natural light and that you hydrate yourself immediately after waking up. Your body goes many hours without water, so replenishing that need will get you started the right way. As you catch up on sleep, you will notice the consistency of your energy levels throughout the day, which makes you less sensitive.
Conclusion: Be Humble and Improve Every Day
Managing your emotions is a lifelong process that takes hard work and reflection. You must be humble enough to recognize where you need to improve and create a game plan. Your ability to influence other people cannot be improved upon until you master yourself. You should train yourself to convert negative emotions and situations into positive outcomes. Only you have the power to control yourself.
As you become less sensitive, you will have more successful conversations at work and home. You will find that there are more happy and healthy connections in your life. Your confidence in yourself and your abilities will sore because you have found your motivation to win with other people. It all starts with the belief in yourself. You are happy, you are healthy, and you are able to improve as a person.