Highly Sensitive People HSP Community Group

The highly sensitive person (or HSP) is someone who cares deeply about everything ... feels emotions with great intensity ... is highly conscientious ... has a rich and complex inner life ... is very intuitive ... is often creative in a variety of ways... is easily overwhelmed and/or overstimulated. A HSP needs lots of quiet time,space, and freedom. If this sounds...

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jupiterjazz 10/12/2015

Wish I could "go with the flow" more easily. Change seems to stress me out. Even if its a small thing. For example, the latest change involves my mom moving out. My mom moved in temporarily to help me and my boyfriend out with our new baby. My mom's presence was such a huge relief for me because it allowed me to catch up on sleep in the morning and do other things I needed to do when I got out of the apartment from time to time. Also, my mom is quite peaceful and her energy was good to have around. Now, she is moving out. Granted, she will be living in the same neighborhood, but I find myself feeling stressed and anxious. When this happens, I tend to have trouble sleeping and just feel like I could have adrenal fatigue or something. I feel like I used to be able to better deal with stress and change when I was younger, but now with even a small change, I feel like I feel stressed right away. I hate how this happens because I could be functioning really well, sleeping well, feeling calm, and then some change happens in life and all of a sudden, with the flick of a switch, my anxiety is "on." I know that life is full of change that happens often, so it really sucks that I respond this way, but I guess part of being highly sensitive means having a CNS that feels things more quickly and easily than others.
I really would like to learn how to not get so quickly impacted by change like this because I know that life entails much bigger and more difficult changes.
Can anyone relate and maybe offer advice?

J0KEYJ 10/15/2015

I think its not an HSP thing as many people dont like change..people who have diaries where they made me chuckle oh no on that day Im doing this I cannot change to that.. I happen to be in debates at the moment on change..I could fill many reply boxes here..for myself if theres a change I have decided to mourn that change example if someone goes away..because it is an emotion..I will miss them ..but I put in a positive..keep busy..have small things to look forward to.. I think its nice to look back and smile at them good moments of meeting..I like the expression a change is as good as a rest..

jupiterjazz 10/18/2015

But perhaps it is an hsp thing to react so strongly to change.

jupiterjazz 10/18/2015

I mean change all around. This includes going on vacation and change of environment. It even means change of season. I am affected by that as well.

J0KEYJ 10/19/2015

animals have deep senses..people do without realizing..interesting readhttps://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/the-neuroscience-of-changeor-how-to-reset-your-brain/

jupiterjazz 10/19/2015

Thank you, Jokey for this article. Interestingly, I am in the process of reading "Brain Lock" now! I like the fact that perhaps these four steps can help me with more than my OCD, but the way I think in general, possibly including my fear of change since the fear has sort of become an automatic response. Neuroplasticity is fascinating to me and offers a lot of hope!

princessfierce 10/20/2015

I can so relate. We moved from our hometown in MD to Florida 3 years ago and I have yet to adapt here. We are now seriously considering moving back for very valid reasons but I am on an emotional roller coaster. One minute I think I can do this and the next minute I'm fearful and frustrated moving here didn't work out. The thought of another long distance move makes me panic and want to not even consider it because of all the change involved and anxiety that goes along with it. Yet, staying where we are will keep me isolated and miserable. So I do think HSP's react more strongly to change. It can literally paralyze and sideline me. I'm trying to take it one day at a time and just focus on the next step. That I can do. But if I focus on the whole move as a whole, I shut down.

jupiterjazz 10/22/2015

Hi princess,

I am glad you are taking it one day at a time. This is something I need to do as well as hard as it is for me. I am slowly planning a big move too from a large Midwestern city to central California. Perhaps the only thing that can make it really work for me is that it is taking such a long time to happen and I visit there at least once a year.

nor007 10/25/2015

i like change because the time before, you have such a rush of anxiety for days, and the time after you feel so relieved, you feel happy for a short time;

i have a way to deal with change ; i have a very distracted mind, so i can easily think to something else or do something else; Regarding anxiety, i don't have much choice than taking something which calms downs;

For me it is a bit weird because my envy to discover new things is above my fear of change; so I know that if there is change, there is also new discovery, and I love that !

Of course, it takes me a lot of time to prepare for a big change (several months) but when I am ready I feel so good !

erinchrys 12/08/2015

hi Jupiterjazz. Yes, i read somewhere that some HSPs do have a challenging time to adjust with changes. Myself too.. sometimes it takes me a long while to adjust with certain changes esp when it comes to relationships.. i usually write down things that bother me, then try to do something with it without bothering others, or calling others' attention to it..

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