Are you an emotional person, or do you get easily offended by others? If so, you are a very sensitive person, my friend. And most of the time, high sensitivity results in pain and trouble and can ruin your relationships with your loved ones. But not anymore, because you clicked on the right article. In this article, you’ll get to know about 8 ways that help you in dealing with the question ‘how to be less sensitive.’
1. What does Being “Sensitive” mean?
Simply put, it’s defined as ‘a feeling of being very conscious of other people’s emotions or getting offended or hurt by them easily.’ Being sensitive is not bad, but putting someone else’s happiness first by killing yours can result in so much pain. Sensitive people are very innocent and get hurt by the smallest things. You may have noticed a mother, for example, is an example of a highly sensitive person as she’s highly sensitive about her child. We are all sensitive about something in our lives. But it takes a toll on you when you let it overpower you.
2. Characteristics of a Highly Sensitive Person
Being a highly sensitive person, you might:
i) Be overly emotional
ii) Give an immediate reaction
iii) Overthink
iv) Struggle in decision-making
v) Be a problem solver for others
vi) Get offended easily
vii) Avoid stressful situations
viii) Be prefer less social interaction
ix) Make it all about yourself
If you find yourself a highly sensitive person to these traits, don’t worry. There are ways to help you overcome and be the best you. Here are the 8 helpful ways ‘how to be less sensitive.’
3. How to be Less Sensitive? – 8 Ways to Help You
3.1. Focus on Yourself
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You can start with the following practices to be more of yourself:
i) Start valuing yourself and do what makes you happy.
ii) Try to control your emotions and stop putting so much effort into others.
iii) Make a self-care plan and work on it.
iv) Do not compare yourself to others because others might not have your qualities.
v) Give priority to your happiness. Be a little selfish. Your life’s purpose is not just to live for others but for yourself too.
3.1.1. Develop 3 ‘S’s to be Less Sensitive
‘i) ‘Self-esteem’ is essential because it means caring about your own worth. Due to self-esteem, an individual learns their limitations, happiness, pride, shame, and other emotions. It is a kind of confidence that helps an individual realize that they matter by realizing their worth.
ii) Self-awareness is one of the cognitive skills you should focus on. This lets individuals be aware of their traits, behaviors, or feelings. Sometimes we cannot figure out our feelings, thoughts, or behaviors. In this case, self-awareness makes you understand things better and also helps to enable living the life that you want.
iii) ‘Self-control’ also plays an important role as it is the ability that helps an individual to control their feelings or actions. Self-control helps you avoid being overly emotional or overly sensitive. It is a mental process that will help you achieve your goal by focusing on yourself.
3.2. Do Yoga and Workouts
According to psychology, sensitivity is the strength in the human body that can detect and discriminate stimuli, and individuals with high sensitivity react more to internal and external stimuli. Yoga helps highly sensitive people regulate their nervous systems properly. A few yoga exercises are mentioned below that help you be less sensitive.
i) ‘Balasana’ is one of the yoga asanas that can help sensitive people release the tension in their chest and will make their minds calm and composed. This asana is a child pose; you must be in this posture for a few minutes to get it worked.
ii) ‘Hastapadasana,’ also known as hand-to-foot pose, can help properly regulate the hormones in the body. It can reduce stress levels in highly sensitive people and help with breathing problems. It can also cure stomach ailments.
iii) ‘Marjaryasana’ is a cat pose that can help release stress and is effective for the body’s muscles. This asana is very helpful for highly sensitive people as it can coordinate joint mobility and increase blood circulation.
iv) Swimming is one of the finest exercises for sensitive individuals because it is repetitive. Any rhythmic activity is the best choice because the water is tranquil and calming, benefiting highly sensitive people to a great extent.
v) To become less sensitive, ‘biking’ is one of the most well-liked exercises. It also relieves stress and is calming. So, highly sensitive people, go for it to find mental peace.
3.3. Have Healthy Meals
Eating regular healthy meals is also one of the most important factors. Highly sensitive people tend to have changes in their blood pressure or sugar level due to being more emotional. So, it is necessary to eat healthy meals to keep the body balanced.
You should eat foods with protein, healthy fat, and healthy carbohydrates. Fruits and green vegetables, pulses, meat, eggs, fish, beans, brown rice, and oats are a few essentials you can adopt in your lifestyle. Eat regular meals and stay hydrated to experience fewer mood swings. For charting out your diet, you should consult a nutritionist.
3.4. Stop Overthinking
Being emotional is not always harmful. You should set boundaries and take responsibility for your emotions so that no one can make you feel worse. But don’t connect all the things with yourself because not everything or everyone around you is meant for you.
Highly sensitive people are not good at dealing with negative feelings. Take social media, for example. The comment section of celebrities’ profiles is filled with negative comments, but they don’t allow these negative emotions of the public to get into their heads. You should also develop the ability to handle the negative thoughts of those around you.
3.5. Take the Help of a Therapist
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Seeking professional medical advice is one of the best things to do if you’re excessively emotional. Experienced therapists know exactly how to deal with their patients’ situations well. First, they try to make their patients comfortable and gain their trust. Once the patient is ready to open up, the therapists listen patiently to them; this is how the counseling starts.
One of the major rules of psychology is that a patient and therapist can’t be friends. The relationship between them should be professional, and all patient details should be confidential. The therapist suggests different types of therapy according to the situation and also try to make the patient understand the other person’s perspective.
Counseling and therapy are the two major things a highly sensitive person requires. They will perform better in therapy sessions if they show a positive attitude toward counseling. A peaceful, safe place with a homely atmosphere is suitable for the patients during counseling sessions.
3.5.1. How many Sessions are Required?
The total number of sessions depends on the patient. If the patient catches things easily and learns to stop getting affected by others, they will become less sensitive, and the session period will be over too. But if they take the time to learn things or heal, their therapy sessions will extend.
3.6. Get Proper Sleep
Do you overthink when trying to fall asleep at night and bite your nails? That may affect your sleep quality or the amount of sleep you get. These thoughts won’t let you sleep, and result? Emotional uncontrollability and other sleep disorders. Lack of sleep can damage the health of sensitive people even more and bring about ailments like anxiety, stress, and depression which further impacts sleep. There are more chances for these people to become emotionally charged and stressed later on because of the thoughtless actions they take in that state.
3.7. Get in the Habit of Writing Journals
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Due to their extreme shyness and inability to open up about their suffering, highly sensitive individuals find writing one of the greatest options. Sometimes, even their best friend can’t sense their feelings. So, they can pen down all their emotions on paper. Writing journals will help you express all the feelings in your heart. All stress will disappear once you clear your mind by writing disturbing thoughts.
3.8. Learn to Accept
Acceptance is the key to having a peaceful mind. You may have heard so many times from others that ‘you overreacted.’ But once you learn to accept situations, things will be easy. People with high sensitivity get emotionally triggered while facing constructive criticism from others. So, when they learn to accept the situation, they will no longer feel sensitive to those situations.
Preparing for a mindset to accept things will help you move on in your life, and acceptance is one of the most important factors in this healing process. It is necessary for every aspect of life, whether professional or personal. And most importantly, it is good for your mental health.
3.8.1. What if you are Unable to Accept the Situation?
Not being able to accept things will cause you a lot of pain. It can ruin your relationships with others and create individual differences between you and them. To increase emotional wellbeing, you need more control over your emotions by accepting the truth.
4. FAQs
4.1. Is Being Sensitive a Bad Quality to Have?
Sensitivity is an emotion we all have. To have an understanding of other people’s emotions isn’t wrong. But every time, putting others’ happiness first by killing yours isn’t right either. Being sensitive can aid you in connecting with people because understanding others’ feelings is a sign of sympathy. The person you are sympathizing with feels overwhelmed by your caring behavior. So, you should have it, but when this sensitivity increases, it will put you in trouble.
4.2. Can High Sensitivity affect Mental Health?
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If you are a highly sensitive person, there is a high chance of having negative thoughts about everything around you. Due to this, you overthink a lot; thus, don’t live in the present moment. It affects your mental health. Most people with high sensitivity suffer from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). This makes a person do unacceptable activities to attract others’ attention. All they want is to be noticed by others.
Sensitivity is a great quality to have in moderation, and there is nothing to feel bad about. According to psychologytoday.com, being too sensitive isn’t a mental health disorder. Yes, it can affect your mental health, but having emotions to understand other people is not a mental illness.
4.3. Why are Some People So Sensitive?
The environmental factor is one of the most important ones to affect. It matters a lot how the people around you are. Some people are soft-spoken, whereas some are straightforward. Highly sensitive people quickly take offense and steer clear of social situations altogether. However, we cannot deny that a highly sensitive person’s surroundings significantly impact their daily experiences.
Next is the genetic factor. Some characteristics and behaviors we inherit from our parents and some result from the heredity process. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t get over your hypersensitivity if it becomes problematic.
Despite the genetic factor, your childhood trauma or past experiences are more likely to be blamed. Bad experiences in relationships can change a lot of emotions in an individual. However, they can also be resolved at some point with awareness and counseling.
5. Conclusion
It’s not bad to feel emotions or to respond to situations when you are in pain. Most of the time, you put yourselves in pain to make others happy, which is not right. Expressing your emotions in front of the world when you are sad or angry is not something to avoid. The only thing is you should prioritize your happiness first and then think about others.
Practicing the habits mentioned in this article can help you be less sensitive. Your emotional responses to every situation will also be neutral. So, we hope you have a good sense of dealing with your emotions with this guide on how to be less sensitive.
Last Updated on by Laveleena Sharma
