INJURY STAGE OF SENSITIVE REALITY
NOTE: I address highly sensitives in my writing but believe others can benefit from these messages, including those navigating chronic conditions and for that matter, non-sensitives running the gauntlet of modern life.
Signs of a "So Sensitive" Injury State
You may be uncontrollably teary.
You may be volatile, defensive to an extreme with anger spilling forth at even a glancing blow of impropriety.
You may be filled with anxious tension which effects your vibe to the extent that outsiders (even those well-intentioned) make mention of your “poodle energy”.
I’ll admit this one is a personal example. And yes, I was called out for this repeatedly in a spiritual community by a “sensitive" leader.
You may be physically ill. And strangely, it might even feel like a relief since our culture is so much more understanding with “sick” they can see.
Or you may experience other outward manifestations, but I think you “get” the essence.
Likely you feel unstable, untrustworthy or broken.
The expressions of your sensitivity saturation could be part of an early warning system. However, my fellow sensitive traveler, you may be in what I call the “INJURED” phase of your SO SENSITIVE realities which once breached can't be ignored or avoided, and it’s fucking hard.
Let’s take on the notion of BROKEN.
In a compromised state (which I’ll cover more in another post) you pushed way past your saturation point, either by choice or life circumstances and your compromised fragility shifted into what feels like a break.
BREAKDOWN… also known as Break-away. Break-up. Break-apart. Break-through.
I’m not suggesting silver lining thinking just yet — that would be offensive and frankly pisses me off when people “do” it to me — but I will say a neutral view of “broken” will serve you.
Honor whatever you need to in terms of a stage of “rage, wail, or wallow” but allow a transition to neutral as soon as it’s available to you.
Now is not... not... NOT the time to:
MAKE MAJOR DECISIONS. Please don't take to dismantling anything in your life. Not now. Wait.
SELF-JUDGE. No post-mortem on how in the name of Zeus’ butthole you got to this awful ugly point. Understandings will naturally arise at a later part of this “sensitive injury process”.
EXPOSE YOURSELF. Hunker down as much as you can. Circle your self-care wagons. Limit — I’m talking seriously LIMIT — exposure to harsh environments or critical people or maybe people in general.
THROW IN THE TOWEL ON SELF-CARE. Resist saying “fuck it all” and wrecking your nutrition, overdoing your sugar intake or denying yourself access to whatever self-care regime you follow. Why the hell not? You ask. It didn’t work anyway, right? Please see above. Don’t self-judge. Adjustments to your overall sensitive self-care routine may indeed be in order. But maybe not.
So what DO you do in this phase?
SELF-CARE
SELF-LOVE
NURTURE
COMFORT
BARE MINIMUMS
MISSION CRITICAL EFFORTS ONLY
EMPLOY "THE PAUSE"
SIMPLIFY
This is a lot of SELF work. You may feel isolated and alone already, and this prospect may not thrill you. Acceptance and support of loved ones is delicious and super helpful, but RELYING on them to understand how to best support and steady you in this stage can be tricky on both sides.
Accept help and love and support, of course. But be your own best friend. Be your own steadfast caretaker. Be your own SO SENSITIVE advocate.
I wrote more on SIMPLICITY BEING TREASURE TO A SENSITIVE HERE.
I won't extol the gifts of your sensitive nature here. The gifts are real and their blessings deep, but pointing to them when you're injured is counter productive if you don't have access to them in any positive context. DUH! I long for the day when people wake up to this in our culture.
Here is something positive I can tell you. No matter how crappy you feel, you won’t be here forever. I can't tell you the length of your RECOVERY period. It may be brief. It can be lengthy. But I do believe that accepting and honoring THAT you are injured WHEN you are injured will help move the process along as quickly as is available to you.
If you take away one thing from this piece, let it be this:
You did NOT fail life! You are not in this state because “life will never work for you”.
The SO SENSITIVE life is cyclical, and you are in the shittiest part of that cycle. We’re talking bottom of the well… dark night of the soul… broken down awful part of the cycle. And guess what? From this dark, broken, awful bottom… a glimmer of something new arises. It happens EVERY TIME, and I will write more about it in another post...soon.
But please know you can’t rush yourself to it, or wish it there, or POSITIVE MINDSET yourself to it for crap's sake. You have my permission to IGNORE the new-agey… spiritual bypass… trite messages you’ll no doubt receive to the contrary.
In the meantime... take care of YOU!
If you'd like 1-1 support you can reach out for an ENERGY MEDICINE SESSION (online or in-person in Phoenix, AZ.
And if you'd simply like to share how this piece lands for you, I'm willing to listen. Feel free to communicate with me through this form.