Being sensitive can sometimes cause you to overreact or misinterpret perceived judgment or criticism. However, being sensitive isn’t always a negative thing. This trait indicates that you are perceptive, diligent, and considerate. However, when confronted with rejection, criticism, or social conflict, it may sometimes result in overpowering feelings. There are answers to how to be less sensitive.
You are more prone to perceive social risks if you are highly sensitive. However, this great sensitivity also comes with a higher reaction, which might lead to you misinterpreting other people’s signals. If you are sensitive, you may try to find strategies to prevent being injured.
This may make it difficult for you to pursue professional possibilities, enjoy intimate relationships, engage with others authentically, or participate in social events. Many individuals are sensitive, but it’s vital to remember that this need not define who you are as a person. According to research, around 20% of individuals tend to be very sensitive.
Tips For Being Less Sensitive
1. Learn to Control Your Feelings
The capacity to manage your feelings, ideas, and actions is known as emotional regulation and is an answer to how to be less sensitive. Having this skill enables you to control upsetting emotions and distressing sensations. You may become less sensitive and learn to weigh your emotions before acting on them by developing this skill.
Using cognitive reframing to alter your thoughts and feelings about various circumstances is one method for successfully controlling emotions. To regulate your emotional response to a circumstance, this procedure entails purposefully reinterpreting it.
You may first think something along the lines of “I’m terrible at this!” or “Nobody appreciates my efforts!” when someone gives you criticism on a project at work. To see the issue differently, you may use cognitive reappraisal. For instance, you could believe that “Making those changes will improve the project” or “My co-worker wants to help me do my best.”
2. Engage in Mindfulness Practice
The practice of mindfulness entails learning to completely concentrate on the here and now without thinking about the past or the future. Research indicates that mindfulness may be helpful for situations when emotional dysregulation is present.
Additionally, studies have shown that short mindfulness meditation sessions improve how emotions are processed. Mindfulness may increase self-awareness and help you better control your emotions if you wish to become less sensitive. It takes time and effort to complete this procedure, so think about scheduling some practice time every day.
3. Journal Daily
As an answer to how to stop being overly sensitive, you may safely process your ideas and feelings by keeping a journal. Putting them in writing makes it easier to see emotional trends and situations that make it hard to manage your emotions. It’s also a fantastic tool to evaluate your development over time.
Additionally, journaling has been shown to lower stress, enhance well-being, and lessen depressive and anxious symptoms. It’s crucial to keep in mind that writing shouldn’t become a chore in and of itself and that being present is more essential than being poetic every day.
For example, a student who has anxiety related to academics may find it helpful to record their feelings after class. This may assist students in determining the kinds of instructors and tasks that make them anxious and in figuring out coping mechanisms.
4. Practice Self-Acceptance
Accepting who you are, especially your sensitive side, without criticizing yourself is the definition of self-acceptance. Recognize that sensitivity is only one aspect of who you are and treat yourself with kindness when you respond passionately. Self-compassion has been scientifically shown to link with fewer mental health issues and helps lessen the shame and guilt that accompany impulsive behaviors.
By treating oneself with compassion rather than severe self-criticism, an artist who often feels horrible if someone criticizes a work might develop self-acceptance. They could decide to see their sensitivity as a strength that fosters creativity, which can increase their confidence and sense of self-worth and teach them how to be less sensitive to criticism.
5. Learn Stress Management
Stress might result from experiencing your emotions strongly, and controlling it is an answer to how to be less sensitive. Its effects may be lessened by stress-reduction strategies including deep breathing, exercise, and time management. By reducing stress, you may better control your emotions and make sensitivity easier to handle without the negative effects of more stress.
A stressed-out father with a full-time job, for example, may take up yoga as a pastime to undertake in his spare time after work. When unforeseen circumstances occur, yoga may help him be more patient and present with his kids since it effectively lowers tension and anxiety.
6. Learn To Set Healthy Boundaries
Setting healthy boundaries is crucial for emotional resilience and reducing over-sensitivity. Boundaries act as a shield, protecting your mental and emotional well-being by defining what is acceptable in your interactions with others. When you establish clear limits, you take control of how you respond to external influences, reducing the likelihood of feeling overwhelmed or overly affected by others’ actions or words.
Start by identifying areas where you feel emotionally drained or triggered. Communicate your needs assertively but respectfully, using “I” statements to express yourself without blaming others. For example, say, “I need time alone to recharge,” rather than criticizing someone for being overly demanding.
Regularly practice self-care to reinforce your boundaries. This could include mindfulness, journaling, or engaging in activities that bring you peace. Healthy boundaries empower you to prioritize your needs, cultivate emotional balance, and respond thoughtfully rather than reacting impulsively.
7. Challenge Your Negative Thoughts
People who are sensitive often chastise themselves or revert to instinctive negative thinking processes and don’t know how to stop being overly sensitive. Cognitive behavioral strategies, such as thought journals or cognitive reframing, assist in rephrasing pessimistic ideas so that you remain optimistic.
When an intern doesn’t comprehend the subtleties of business, for instance, they may feel inadequate. By taking into account prior accomplishments, cognitive reframing strategies might assist in challenging ideas such as “I’m not good enough.” By learning to be open to criticism, the intern may eventually come to see it as a chance for improvement.
8. Gradually Desensitize
Improved emotional control is one of the essential components of resilience. By enabling you to progressively expose yourself to circumstances that overwhelm you, desensitization—the process of decreasing sensitivity or emotional reaction to stimuli via repeated exposure—can aid in the development of resilience.
For example, begin spending brief amounts of time in less crowded regions and progressively increase the exposure if crowds overwhelm you. Alternatively, you may advise a buddy who has social anxiety to attempt fewer events before taking on more significant ones.
Why Some Are Overly Sensitive
Being “too sensitive” is often the result of a confluence of environmental, psychological, and biological variables that affect your mental well-being. Despite the answers to how to be less sensitive, what the study indicates is as follows:
- A portion of sensitivity may be inherited. Some people’s neurological systems are inherently more receptive, and their brain activity varies. This is especially true for regions related to consciousness, empathy, and sensory information processing. Elevated emotional sensitivity has also been connected to the serotonin transporter gene variation.
- Stress in early childhood, such as being raised in a violent or uncaring home, has been connected to changes in the brain’s amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Each is essential for learning how to control emotions and react to dangers, which increases a person’s emotional sensitivity as they age.
- Increased emotional reactions are common in people with neuroticism, rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD), anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders. This is often brought on by underlying psychological and neurological processes that increase baseline stress and amplify responses.
- The brain’s mirror neuron system, which is crucial for reacting to other people’s emotions, is linked to empathy. Sensitive people may absorb and experience the tension or negativity of others when this system is more active.
- Burnout and ongoing stress may also make people more sensitive. They often result in ongoing stress, which intensifies the body’s fight-or-flight reaction. This may have a detrimental effect on people’s emotional well-being and increase their sensitivity to unfavorable social signals.
With deliberate effort, you can control your emotions regardless of the root reason for your sensitivity.
FAQ
Q: What’s causing my excessive emotional sensitivity?
A: Stress, heredity, or dietary choices may be the cause of elevated emotions or a sense of emotional instability. An underlying medical problem, such as hormones or a mental illness, may also be the cause.
Q: What causes sensitivity in humans?
A: High sensitivity may be influenced by genetics. In particular, the dopamine system could be involved. It has an impact on personality and might make some individuals more sensitive than others. Additionally, high sensitivity is inherited.
Q: Is being very sensitive a negative thing?
A: Being very sensitive may lead to relationship problems, anxiety, and stress. Being very sensitive has advantages, however, particularly when supported or in the proper setting. Possessing a deep inner life and demonstrating more empathy are some benefits.
