1614 X St., Suite A
Sacramento, CA 95818
US

916-287-3430

Thrive Therapy & Counseling provides high quality therapy to Highly Sensitive People and to kids, teens or adults struggling with anxiety, depression or self-esteem.

Blog

This blog is written by a therapist in midtown Sacramento and focuses on the concerns and struggles of highly sensitive people (HSPs) and of kids, teens and adults struggling with depression, anxiety or just trying to figure out what they want for themselves.  There's help and hope through counseling and therapy!

Filtering by Category: highly sensitive person

Tuning Out the Static

Ivy Griffin

As HSPs, we can pick up on subtleties in our environments and the feelings of others. We may have received reinforcement from our families or the wider cultures we grew up in for being able to anticipate the needs, feelings, and desires of others. We may have even been punished in some way for not knowing others’ needs and living up to their expectations. All of this to say that we can often feel flooded by the noise of others’ needs and priorities in the form of what I like to call “static”.

Read More
categories coaching for hsps, highly sensitive person, HSP therapy
tags highly sensitive therapist, self-care, stop overthinking, stress management

Self-Awareness and Self-Advocacy

Ivy Griffin

As HSPs, we may feel as though the world is constantly acting upon us, like we have no control over anything and we’re completely overwhelmed. When we’re highly attuned to our environment and the people around us, there is a lot of information coming in on a regular basis. That’s why it is so important for people who are highly sensitive to use the tools at our disposal to create a sense of balance and satisfaction in our lives.

Read More
categories be true to yourself, highly sensitive person, HSP therapy, therapy Sacramento
tags highly sensitive therapist, self-care, self improvement, self-advocacy

Stopping the Cycle of Overwhelm

Ivy Griffin

It’s all well and good to bust out your arsenal of coping tools when you’re already overwhelmed, but how do we lessen our chances of being overwhelmed in the first place?
As HSPs, our urges to please others, make their lives easier, and keep things calm can be quite strong. We will do almost anything to maintain peace and harmony in our environment. But sometimes this can come at the expense of our own well-being and we find ourselves exhausted, stressed out and depleted.

Read More
categories highly sensitive person, HSP therapy, mindfulness, self-care
tags highly sensitive therapist, coping skills, setting boundaries, highly sensitive person

How We Self-Sabotage With Self-Judgment

Ivy Griffin

As HSPs, we may spend a significant amount of energy managing our day-to-day lives. Work, home responsibilities, social interactions, and running errands can leave us feeling drained and like we need lots of time to recuperate. This can be tough when we live in a society that values productivity and activity over rest and rejuvenation. It’s easy for self-judgment about what we “ought” to be doing to creep in. 

This self-judgment can manifest as a sense of “I’m not doing enough”, “I’m so lazy”, or “What’s wrong with me that I can’t do more?” When these messages are the ones playing loudest and most often in our heads, they interrupt the time we need to recuperate and make it so we can never fully relax. They can also put pressure on our social interactions which can lead them to feel strained or tense. In the end, our self-judgment drains us of even more energy so that we’re not only left feeling exhausted, we feel bad about ourselves as well. 

So what can we do? 

  • Recognize where this self-judgment comes from -- We learn these messages and we can unlearn them with time and practice. They may reflect the values of the wider society and/or our peers and family. But do they represent our values? At the end of the day, we’re the ones that must live in our own heads so we must think about the way we talk to ourselves. 

  • Try challenging these messages with questions like “Are all societal/familial values healthy?” or “How does it impact me to buy into this mindset?” or “Who stands to benefit from me buying into the belief that I need to be productive to be valued?”

  • Start replacing these messages with more realistic and compassionate ones like “Adequate rest is essential to my ability to function at my best.” or “Just because rest and rejuvenation were not valued in my family, doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable and healthy.” and “Taking time to myself helps me to be more available and engaged when I do have to/choose to interact with others.”

Over time, we can begin to build the type of acceptance we need to be more compassionate and understanding towards ourselves and others. When we honor and respect our own boundaries and needs, we bring that to our relationships and interactions as well. With practice, we may start to find that we’re better able to find balance in our lives and finally let go of the self-judgment that’s been holding us back. 

Initiating and maintaining these types of practices can be difficult -- don’t be afraid to reach out for support! The therapists at Thrive are here to help.

Best wishes, 

Ileana Arganda-Stevens, AMFT #99821

she/hers

Supervised by Ivy Griffin, LMFT #51714

Thrive Therapy & Counseling

916-287-3430

thrivetherapyandcounseling.com/ileana-arganda


categories highly sensitive person, coaching for hsps, self care Sacramento, therapy Sacramento
tags highly sensitive therapist, setting boundaries, self-care, self talk

When you wake up worried

Ivy Griffin

Dear sensitive one, do you have those days where you wake up worrying? Like, before you even open your eyes, the worry is taking over? “Ugh, there’s that meeting that I’m dreading.” “I have so much to do; how am I going to get through it all?” “I really wish I could just stay in bed forever.” “How am I going to manage?” Your stomach gets tied in knots or the butterflies take over, and your whole body feels tense before your feet even hit the floor.

Read More
categories highly sensitive person, self care
tags highly sensitive therapist, coping with anxiety, coping with overwhelm, mindfulness

When emotions are too big

Ivy Griffin

Do you have those moments when it feels like your entire body has been taken over by a feeling? When it doesn’t even matter if you know the feeling is out of proportion because it’s such an all-consuming tidal wave that you can’t begin stop it? I imagine most of us HSPs have had and will continue to have these moments—much to our chagrin. We hate them, right? I have that sense of “Wait, seriously?” when it starts to happen. Like, are you kidding me—I’m here—AGAIN?! But, that doesn’t make the tears subside.

Read More
categories therapy Sacramento, therapy, highly sensitive person, coaching for hsps
tags highly sensitive therapist, coping with overwhelm, coping with anxiety, coping with feelings

Honing your self-care routine

Ivy Griffin

We can find a lot of information out there about self-care routines from planning your weekly exercise regimen to what skin care steps to follow every day to how to begin meditating. While all of this can be helpful, we don’t often talk about how to match self-care to our current emotional state, and as sensitive souls, it can be really important to check in with ourselves regularly about how we’re feeling and to engage in practices to take care of ourselves that meet these needs.

Read More
categories highly sensitive person
tags highly sensitive therapist, highly sensitive person, self-care for hsps, empath, dealing with overwhelm

8 tools to manage anxiety right now

Ivy Griffin

Happy New Year, dear HSPs! I wish you all the best that this year can bring, even as I know that we continue to live in a difficult time. As we embark on 2021, we may have conflicting feelings of hope, frustration, overwhelm, uncertainty, anger, excitement, or even despair. While there are some indicators of change for the coming year, there’s still a LOT we don’t know and can’t really plan for.

Read More
categories highly sensitive person
tags highly sensitive therapist, anxiety help, highly sensitive person, HSP, manage anxiety

Needing Things to Look Forward to

Ivy Griffin

We all know what a difficult year this has been. Our lives have changed in some ways we didn’t even realize was possible, our privilege or reminders of our lack thereof have been revealed over and over again, and the losses continue to add up. As highly sensitive people (HSPs), we may feel grief, confusion, anger, disappointment, frustration, sadness, disgust, overwhelm, and heartbreak. It’s a lot to cope with, and of course, we feel all of this very deeply and intensely.

Read More
categories highly sensitive person
tags highly sensitive therapist, coping skills, highly sensitive person, HSP, self-care for hsps

How to Release Tension

Ivy Griffin

We all know that being highly sensitive can really drain our energy. It makes sense that anyone who is highly attuned to their environment and the feelings of others would feel exhausted after absorbing so much sensory information. But, one of the things I’ve been paying attention to recently is the balance of input versus output. We take in all this information all day every day, but where does it go?

Read More
categories highly sensitive person
tags highly sensitive therapist, stress relief, highly sensitive person, HSP, self-care for hsps

Setting boundaries, even now

Ivy Griffin

These are such tough times we’re continuing to live in, especially for sensitive souls who absorb so much of what happens around us. I keep saying this again and again, yet it’s still true. Those of us in California have been even more impacted in the past month with the horrific wildfires and terrible air quality. As someone who finds a lot of solace in getting outdoors and moving, it’s been incredibly challenging. It can feel like we’re on house arrest--can’t go outside and can’t go inside anywhere. Damned if we do or don’t.

Read More
categories highly sensitive person
tags highly sensitive therapist, setting boundaries, highly sensitive person, HSP coping skills

The healing power of nature

Ivy Griffin

As highly sensitive people, we likely already have a strong appreciation for the beauty of the natural world. We tend to be lovers of animals, plants, art, beauty and to have strong convictions about protecting and preserving the environment and the other creatures around us. These hard-wired sensitivities and appreciations can serve us well during this time.

Read More
categories highly sensitive person
tags highly sensitive therapist, healing in nature, coping skills, highly sensitive person, benefits of nature