Sensitivity is a superpower

Yes, it's true. Being sensitive is truly a superpower. For so long we lived in a society that valued toughness, grit, masculinity, and endless hard work.But what that actually translated to was shutting off emotions, depression, and decreased levels of happiness.This is something I struggled with for a long time, accepting the fact that I was sensitive. This is where a lot of my anxiety came from because I would shut off every emotion that came to me.In fact I couldn't even identify my emotions day to day! I just chose to live in a constant anxious state.I, like many others, was scared to actually feel the emotion, like it would be too much for me to handle. Or that I would feel a certain emotion, like loneliness or anger, and stay there forever.So instead of honoring my sensitive side, I pretended to live as someone completely opposite. The girl that was always "on", ready to party, crack jokes, and stay up late making sure everyone had fun.While that was fun for everyone around me, it made me feel miserable. I didn't even know who I was, I felt very disconnected from myself.I stayed in the this cycle for years, coming up with ways to suppress my emotions. Dieting and binging, partying too much, negative self-talk, endless hours of researching ways to be "better."I'm sure you can identify with some of these methods of suppressing emotions. The majority of us are not taught how to identify them. Our parent's generation struggled in the same way we did and they did not have the tools to model to their children.Thankfully, the paradigm is starting to shift and we are seeing more value in the feminine qualities we all have and being more in tune to our emotions.But most of us are still stuck in the old way of doing things. Let's first identify some ways we chose to ignore what we are feeling:

• dieting and/or over-eating
• exercising way too much
• not taking downtime or rest
• overspending money/ not being able to hang onto money
• staying in toxic friendships and relationships
• binge drinking
• constant negative self-talk, body shaming yourself
• judging others
• playing the victim: blaming everyone else but you for your circumstances
• overworking
• constantly on the go, never being able to sit with yourself
• always being available for other people and texting/ calling all the time

Identify any of these in yourself? The constant theme through them all is creating a disconnection from yourself. Too scared to go inward that you are constantly seeking external distraction.What holds most people back from feeling their emotions is a fear that they won't be able to handle it. They believe the feeling will be so intense and they will never come back from it.

The truth is, your body will never give you an emotion you can't handle.

Emotions exist for a reason and are a powerful teacher. So when you feel things such as loneliness, sadness, or even anger and frustration, sit with it.Let the emotion come to you and learn it's lesson. You feel lonely because you aren't connected to yourself, you feel anger because you are battling a deeper suppressed belief.But once you start to actually feel the emotions, you start to uncover that they don't have power over you. You will soon realize that you can handle whatever life throws at you.Now for those of us that are naturally sensitive, please recognize it as a gift.A gift to experience life to its fullest, to find joy in the little things, to care deeper for the ones you love. But to also experience the harder times more intensely and realize how special life really is.Sensitivity is a superpower: when you let emotions enhance your life, not imprison you.And if you aren't naturally sensitive or connected to yourself, you can get there!I to went from suppressing everything that came up to now being able to experience and identify all ranges of emotion.And let me tell you, my experience and appreciation of life has grown exponentially. I can walk around confidently knowing that I can handle anything, no belief has power over me.Some small ways to start feeling your emotions are just sitting quietly and letting them come up. They may feel intense at first, but I promise you can handle them.And when something makes you really happy, feel it! Smile big, bask in the moment, tell everyone you know, hug someone you love.Once you start feeling everything, this is your first step to creating your dream life.You can identify what feels really good to you, what lights you up, and move more towards that everyday.When somethings feels wrong you can pivot and move more towards feeling good again.Your emotions will become your compass to everything you desire.So don't be afraid to go inward and build that connection to yourself. Once you truly know yourself you will become powerful and experience life to the fullest.