5 Reasons Highly Sensitive People Can Thrive in a Pandemic
How often have you craved the opportunity to slow down - to spend more time nestled at home with your pet, to work from home in your PJs, to not have the pressure to attend social functions every weekend? If you’re an Introvert and/or Highly Sensitive Person like me, probably very often!
Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is definitely not how we wanted to get our needs met, but here we are. As strange as it may sound, we were born for this! As we see people around the country struggle to figure out how to be content at home, we finally have the opportunity to shine! Our temperament is well-suited for quarantine and perhaps not that dramatically different than our typical habits. Let’s show everyone how it’s done, shall we?
Our modern lifestyle is the Achilles’ heel of the Highly Sensitive Person, but take away the busyness and over-stimulation of everyday life and we can begin to flourish in a way we haven’t been able to before. Let’s explore five reasons why we can thrive during this unprecedented time.
Our Empathy Benefits All
Our conscientious and empathetic nature helps us understand the impact of our actions on a larger scale and do what’s necessary for the greater good. We were probably the first ones to stay home and are posting so many resources on social media to help others understand the magnitude of what’s going on. During this time we’re coping by educating, helping, and organizing resources for humans and animals alike. We find it important to do things right and take care of others.
There’s Less Decision Fatigue
Being wired to pause and reflect before every decision means we move a bit more slowly, but make really good decisions. As Dr. Elaine Aron says, our strategy is to “do it once, do it right”. This is a great asset if you’re making a few decisions a day, but when we think about how fast life moves and how many little (and big) decisions we make every day from when to get up, what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, what time to leave for work (and that’s all before 9 am) you can imagine how tired our brain is by the end of the day!
Life is suddenly simpler and without as many decisions to make, we can use our energy to take care of ourselves and our families. I personally have saved two hours per day in commuting and feel realized not to decide every day when I need to leave. Instead, I’m doing more yoga, journaling, and spending time outside to keep my sensitive nervous system regulated.
We’re Perceptive and Intuitive
Sometimes being able to see every possible scenario and potential outcome can be overwhelming and make it difficult to make decisions. On the other hand, our heightened perception and intuition can be a great asset in a crisis. This ability can help us prepare before others even notice something is wrong. Did you have extra household supplies weeks ago? I wouldn’t be surprised.
We also have the ability to look ahead at what’s possible from this situation such as lower pollution and more connection. Being able to spot the positives when everything seems scary will help us maintain the hope and emotional stability needed to get through this.
We Appreciate the Little Things
There is less novelty, excitement, and variety during quarantine. For the person who is NOT Highly Sensitive, a lot of little details in this seemingly boring lifestyle will go missed. However, us Highly Sensitive folks will notice every little joy. I have found myself appreciating the sounds of the birds, the blue sky, my comfy clothes even more than before. Even better, we feel all our feelings deeply and get to take great pleasure from the simple delights around us. How lucky are we?! Even with restrictions in place, we can still enjoy so much.
Benefit From Alone Time
As people who get overstimulated easily and need time to deeply process our experiences, spending more time alone is actually best for us. We can really benefit from having more time at home. With less pressure to socialize, fewer choices, and saving time traveling to work or other places, we’ll have more time to reflect and space to create, read and dive deeply into our interests. The opportunity to prioritize our quiet needs without guilt is a golden ticket.
Unless you’re a master at staying calm, you could be finding it difficult to access the benefits of being Highly Sensitive that I shared above. Don’t worry, you’re not alone in this. These are stressful and uncertain times which could feel impossible to manage if you were already overwhelmed, are worrying about our financial stability or have health concerns.
Now more than ever it’s paramount we prioritize basic self-care needs on a daily basis. Below I share a few suggestions, but do what works for you:
Limit news consumption to one hour per day and only from trusted sources
Do not watch the news or overstimulating shows and movies two hours before bed
Get quiet alone time each day, even if that means just spending a few extra minutes in the bathroom every chance you get or starting family quiet time
Practice mindfulness and breathing to calm your nervous system (try the Insight Timer or Calm apps)
Get physical exercise
Incorporate more tactile activities if you’re working on the computer all day such as cooking, coloring, puzzles, or games.
Rest your eyes between online meetings (close for at least 30 seconds)
Journal about your daily experiences (I’m a big fan of Morning Pages)
Although this is an uncertain time, it is also a great opportunity to give ourselves permission to rest and unhook from the pressure to constantly be productive or social. Due to our natural characteristics of empathy, perception, and capacity to feel deeply, Highly Sensitive People are at an advantage to thrive during this pandemic while also helping others.
