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Stress Management
5 Self-Help Stress Management Tips For Highly Sensitive People
Some people are more responsive to emotions than others. A person, then, can be considered a highly sensitive person. A highly sensitive person is someone who feels things and emotions more deeply than others or is more reactive to stress and other overwhelming emotions.
A highly sensitive person can be someone who is bothered by a dismissive action or an equally curt response. However, this person is also the one who will be the first to hug you when you need it or know, instinctively, that something is wrong.
Sadly, their heightened sensitivity to emotions and their surrounding can make them prone to rumination, anxiety, overthinking, and stress.
Coping with stress, on a good day, can be difficult in itself but for a highly sensitive person coping with stress can be more than a little challenging. Below are some of the best self-help stress management strategies for highly sensitive people.
5 Self-Help Coping Strategies For Highly Sensitive People
1. Healthy Boundaries Matters
By boundaries, I don’t mean literal boundaries, I mean limits in your relationships. When you’re coping with stress, having boundaries can make you feel comfortable in letting others know what you need. Creating boundaries can also mean making room in your schedule when stress becomes too much and you need to step away.
2. Identify Your Triggers
Highly sensitive people already have to deal with certain challenges but identifying their triggers beforehand can help them avoid the worst of them. Notice how you’re feeling all day and keep a worry journal or stress journal handy if you need it. No one can change the fact that you are sensitive to emotions but you can change how they affect your life.
Once you understand and identify your triggers, you can try to adopt coping strategies to control your emotions before they can get the better of you.
3. Practicing Mindfulness Can Help
These days, almost everyone says mindfulness can help but how? When you practice mindfulness or meditation, you learn to step away from your mind and back to your present. When you’re in the present moment, your body calms down quickly and you can respond to the stress in real-time.
With these practices, you also learn how to emotionally detach yourself from things that overwhelm you. Mindfulness keeps your focus on the present which can be good if you’re someone prone to rumination.
Read: What is Rumination? What Toll Can it Take?
4. Reach Out To Your Support System
Reaching out for a support system when you’re stressed is also an important step. For some highly sensitive people, spending time alone can be more stressful. Instead, you can have a strong support group made up of your close friends or people you trust.
When you’re dealing with stress, it helps if you have a support system to fall back on who can advise you, support you, and back you up when you need it. Having a support system is also an act of self-care.
5. Self-Care Matters Too
Self-care here can mean engaging in activities that help release stress and bring to you a sense of peace, relaxation, and calm. You can take a hot bath and add some aromatherapy to the mix to help soothe your mind and body.
Highly sensitive people are more likely to experience food cravings, changes in sleep patterns, and burnout. If you experience any or all of these then it is recommended that you focus on self-care, eat healthily, sleep at least 6-8 hours, or engage in de-stressing activities to prevent burnout.
When you are healthy and happy – body, mind, and soul – you can manage your stress effectively.
Final Words
A highly sensitive person is more susceptible to emotions and is likely to feel emotions more deeply than others. Coping with stress when you’re a high;y sensitive person is certainly not easy but with the right self-help coping strategies, it can be less challenging.
If you’re a highly sensitive person coping with stress, I sincerely hope the above-mentioned coping strategies will help you easily cope with stress in the future.
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