Managing hyper sensitivity in an office environment

Highly sensitive people (including myself!) feel and pick up other people’s emotions, moods and energies more strongly than most. When I say pick up, I mean it literally. Unmanaged hyper sensitivity can actually result in taking on other people’s emotions and feeling them as ones own, meaning that if someone around them is stressed out, angry or anxious, they start feeling these emotions as well (ever been in a good mood, walked around the city and all of a sudden felt your mood rapidly change?). For some, their bodies actually amplify the emotions of others meaning that if their colleague is experiencing stress at level 6 out of 10, the highly sensitive person might feel and pick this up as an 8 or 9 (also me!).

As you can imagine, an office environment can be tricky for highly sensitive people. Being around lots of different people’s energies and emotions (feeling these as their own), often a lot of stress (feeling this as their own), noise & some level of chaos with lots of people doing different things.

This often results in feeling exhaustion, lightheadedness, a need for own space, wired-up-ness, irritation etc. at the end of the day. Where others are excited about the afterwork drinks… highly sensitive people might wonder how everyone else has so much energy to continue socialising when all they can think about is some quiet alone time (and might feel like there’s something wrong with them - there’s not!).

What amplifies hyper sensitivity in an office environment is that most of the day is spent thinking and doing mind based activities. This results in a disconnect to the body, external focus or so called ‘ungroundedness‘. This disconnect makes us even more sensitive to external influences and makes it more difficult to distinguish our own emotions and energies from other people’s.

Does this mean highly sensitive people should avoid the office? Of course not. It just means that it can be helpful to pay a bit more attention on grounding & bringing your attention to the body. The stronger we’re rooted and connected to ourselves and our bodies, the less external factors will influence our state.

Things you can do on an office day to feel better at the end of it:

  • Focusing on your breath multiple times per day: taking a few intentional deep breaths or doing short breathing exercises (examples here).

  • Connecting with your body multiple times per day (in an empty meeting room, bathroom, quiet corner or your seat):

    • Light streching

    • Stomping your feet on the ground

    • Feeling your feet on the ground, your body against the chair or hot drink between your hands

    • Clapping your hands together

    • Splashing cold water on your face

    • Short meditations

    • Looking yourself in the eyes in the mirror and taking a moment to really see yourself

  • Short walks outside

  • Noise cancelling headphones

  • Corner seat instead of sitting in the middle of everyone

  • Imagine a protective bubble around yourself that keeps other people’s energies out

I also want to highlight that whilst this article has highlighted some of the downsides of being a highly sensitive person, it’s really such a blessing too. It allows you to read people easily, feel higher highs, ride on other people’s high energy or positive emotions when it’s needed, be hyper empathetic etc. Learning to listen to our bodies, set boundaries and communicate our needs allows us to tap into this hyper sensitivity without burning out <3

Previous
Previous

What is energy healing & how does it actually work?

Next
Next

Can stress actually make you sick?