For the HSP Who Tires Easily. Write Out an Over-Sensed Day and Let It Go

Half a day in a crowded place and you're worn out by the time you head home. You sensitively pick up on someone's sour expression or the prickly mood of a room, and before you know it you've been on guard the whole time. It was supposed to be a fun event, yet afterward exhaustion hits all at once, and you can't recover until you've had some time alone. "Why am I the only one who gets this tired?" you wonder, at a loss with your own sensitive self.

That tiredness doesn't mean you're weak, or that you aren't trying hard enough. It may come from what's called being an HSP, a temperament that deeply takes in surrounding stimulation and others' emotions. This article covers a self-care habit for writing out the day's over-absorbed stimulation to reset, so you can hold onto your sensitive self without wearing down.

HSPs Tire Easily Because They "Take In More"

HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) is a concept for people whose temperament takes in environmental stimulation and others' emotions far more deeply than most. Proposed by psychologist Elaine Aron, it isn't an illness or a flaw but is considered one feature of an innate sensitivity.

In the same room, an HSP unconsciously absorbs a great deal of information: sound, light, smell, people's expressions and tone of voice, even the tension in the air. Their inner antenna, so to speak, is set to high sensitivity. Because of that, the brain processes a larger volume of information and spends more nervous energy, so they're thought to tire sooner than others.

In other words, your fatigue happens not "because you're lazy" but "because you're taking in a lot." Just knowing this premise spares you from blaming your tired self. First, please let yourself acknowledge that tiring easily is natural.

Write Out an Over-Sensed Day Before Bed and Let It Go

Stimulation and emotion you've absorbed in large amounts, left sitting in your head, can't be fully processed and pile up as fatigue. That's where a habit helps: at the end of the day, write out what you felt and let it go.

The method is simple. Before bed, briefly write out what you felt you "over-absorbed" that day. "That person's bad mood weighed on me and it was exhausting." "The crowd frayed my nerves." There's no need to make it tidy. Putting the stimulation left in your head into words and getting it out is thought to reduce the fatigue you carry into the next day.

Writing Self-Care That Keeps Your Sensitive Self From Wearing Down

Beyond writing, there are ways to keep daily overstimulation from piling up. Combined with the writing habit, they're even more effective.

• Make days where you consciously reduce the amount of stimulation (no packed schedule, avoid crowds)
• After seeing people, secure quiet recovery time alone
• On days you feel "I took in too much today," jot that sensation down
• Write what especially triggered the fatigue to grasp your own fatigue patterns

As you keep writing, you start to see which situations drain you most. Once you know that, you can protect yourself in advance, building in rest or avoiding high-stimulation plans. Sensitivity gets much easier to live with when you work with it rather than trying to force yourself blunt.

Being sensitive is the flip side of strengths like fine attentiveness, deep empathy, and rich perception. Rather than denying that perception, have a way to reset it often. That's the knack for holding onto your sensitive self, with care, for the long run.

When Fatigue Shows Up Physically

If overstimulation stacks up and you can't sleep, low mood persists, or physical symptoms last more than two weeks, don't just chalk it up to sensitivity; consider consulting a psychosomatic or general physician. HSP is only a concept that describes temperament, not a medical diagnosis.

When a hard state persists, don't carry it alone; leaning on a professional brings peace of mind. While writing out an over-sensed day and letting it go, please also remember to rest and to reach out when you need to.

Before what you took in today piles up in your body, write it out and set it down within the day.

References

• Elaine N. Aron, The Highly Sensitive Person — the work that proposed the concept of "sensory processing sensitivity" (HSP), a temperament that deeply takes in the environment and others' emotions.