Sensitivity.

One thing I have always known, though I didn’t have words for it growing up, was that events felt like too much. I grew up in a large family as the daughter of a rabbi, surrounded by people, noise, expectations, and constant social energy. The lights, the sounds, the shifting emotions in a room, I felt all of it deeply.

I couldn’t explain it to anyone. I just knew that feelings would rise and panic would come in waves when I had to speak publicly, show up socially, or be “on” for others. From the outside I seemed capable; inside my nervous system felt overwhelmed.

Reading Elaine Aron’s work on Highly Sensitive People was a turning point. It helped me understand me, and the experiences I had had, but was difficult to explain to those around me, and let alone myself. It validated my experience and started to release the shame I had been holding for so long. I began to understand that sensitivity isn’t a flaw, it’s a way of being.

My body needed support.

Discovering somatic therapy changed everything.

When I first heard of somatic experiencing it made sense to my body. I knew this is what I needed. It was a welcome embrace. Because I had spent years trying to force my mind into change and nothing helped. In fact, I was worse off. I had had years of talk therapy, and I had felt I was going in circles. Which, makes total sense. My mind and cognition wasn’t what needed fixing. In fact, I didn’t need fixing at all. .

I started practicing somatic experiencing and going to sessions. And slowly, started noticing the change. Instead of analyzing myself, I learned to listen to my nervous system. Instead of hurrying everything up, I slowed everything down. Grounding exercises, noticing activation and deactivation. I began to notice sensations, shifts in state, and moments of safety. I notices subtle shifts in my body and began making new movements to support boundaries and expression. Somatic therapy, art therapy, play therapy, they taught me that healing isn’t about forcing change; it’s about learning to be with ourselves. The body holds wisdom, even in discomfort.

It’s not a linear process. I keep learning every day. My nervous system has not been ‘fixed’ with more awareness, it is just more knowing and able. I go back and forward. Some days I am fully in my sense of self, and am contained. Others times, I feel the feelings. I notice that there is something calling and something that wants to be heard. I notice the uncomfortability, I notice the yearning, I notice the sadness, I notice the excitement, the joy. And I utilize what I have learnt to accept what is, the disappointments, the stress, the yearning, in a kind and gentle way. As I have grown I have noticed the subtle shifts, the ability to contain and be with more, the ability to hold space for others, and the ability to be more compassionate with myself.

In my work with women and children, I see this again and again: when we learn to notice and support our nervous systems, we build capacity. We learn how to ground, self-soothe, and gently show our bodies that we are safe. It’s not a fix it all. But it allows us to embrace what comes with fuller and open hearts.

There is a way to live in this world that supports sensitive people, not by becoming less sensitive, but by learning how to care for ourselves within it.

If this resonates with you, feel free to reach out.