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.
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For the next installment in this series about grief and adolescents, I want to focus on one of the four tasks that are important to working through the grief/loss process: acknowledgment of the loss. While we typically start with this task, it is important to note that all four tasks may be completed in any order and worked on simultaneously. The process will vary from person to person and loss to loss, so our focus is on guiding ourselves and loved ones through as best we can, instead of focusing on particular milestones in a regimented order.
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At points in all of our lives, we find ourselves feeling as though other people do not hear or understand us. This can be hugely frustrating and lead to a breakdown in communication where neither side feels as though they are being recognized. In these instances, validation can be incredibly helpful. Below are some skills to help you let people know that you care and are listening, which helps them listen better to you in return.
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Being a highly sensitive person has its benefits and its challenges. You might find that you experience high levels of internal rewards from simple pleasures like the sound of rain against your window, the smell of fresh laundry, or the softness of your favorite worn-out t-shirt. But by the same token, you might also experience extreme overwhelm from what others may consider small disruptions in your environment, the daily news cycle, or even the moods and emotions of others.
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Teens are notorious for testing boundaries and questioning everything their parents tell them. Gone are the days when a little reverse psychology or the old “Guess you aren’t big enough yet...” routine could get them to eat their greens or brush their teeth. Now, they are moody, irritable, nap during the day, and have little interest in getting tasks done on our timeline. My goal for this post is to highlight some possible causes for oppositional behaviors in teens, as well as some ways to approach their defiance differently.
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As the new year progresses, many of us are reflecting on our relationships and interactions with others. We may feel frustrated by the amount of energy it seems to take to interact with some people. Or perhaps there are certain behaviors that really get under our skin. Whatever the case, we come away from these interactions feeling as though we’ve given our all to be patient, to communicate, and be courteous while others seem to take us for granted.
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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.
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Today I want to introduce one of my favorite topics in therapy. It can often explain so much of our teen’s (and our own) experience, but we don’t always think about it in a broader context. That topic is grief and loss, and not just related to death.
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A short while back, I wrote a post about improving the quality of close relationships. Relationships, however (and especially romantic ones!), are deeply complex emotional dynamics that require ongoing attention and care. Three tips for improving them just isn’t enough! So, here are three *more* principles to improve and maintain the quality of relationships in your life.
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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.
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With the pandemic continuing for almost a year now, I felt it was a good time to talk about a common topic for parents struggling with teens in isolation. Adolescents often crave peer relationships, and that can be tough to manage when we are all expected to stay at home. In this article, I will discuss the benefits of increasing your teen’s time with friends, as well as some options that have worked for other families who are facing this same struggle. However, keep in mind what unique challenges your family may need to balance when deciding how to best address this important issue.
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Do you struggle to find fulfillment in your life? Do you find it hard to recognize the positive amidst chaos and uncertainty? Sometimes we feel as though we must constantly search for what’s missing in our lives, but what if what’s missing is gratitude?
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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.
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The term “Mental Health Day” has grown in popularity over the past few years. This typically means taking sick time off work to treat our mental health with the same care and attention as our physical health. Whether the intention is to take care of a family member (or just spend some extra quality time), relax and sleep in to relieve stress, or to regroup after a long week, taking care of our mental health is now more important than ever.
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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.
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