05/21/2026
Over the past 6+ months, I’ve been managing two big life stressors simultaneously: a major medical situation and buying an apartment in New York City. Because I’ve been doing this work of re-training my own highly sensitive nervous system for over 20 years now and supporting other HSPs to do the same, I realized pretty quickly that any remaining threads of old, unhelpful HSP over-responsible or over-protective behavior were going to need to be cut loose to keep my sanity through this massively intense and challenging time.
One of those threads was how I related to medical professionals and personnel. As a child, I was taught to always be respectful of people in authority. I still believe this as an adult, but not in the same way. In the past, I would defer my sense of agency, confusing this with respect. Now, I advocate for myself in a way that is respectful to others while also respecting myself.
An example from this recent medical situation is realizing early on in the process that a lot of the medical personnel, when talking to me, would not only give me a lot of information all at once (overwhelming to my HSP system), but then add to it by repeating themselves multiple times. After this happened the first time, I said to my husband, this cannot continue, or I’ll never make it through this healing journey. The next time it started to happen I gave a gracious interruption and said, “I’m a highly sensitive person. This is what that means __________ and this is what I need_________”.
It changed everything. Not only because I was able to process the information being shared with me, but also because I felt (and was) more empowered, which, in my opinion, contributed to my cells recalibrating and healing, which I was there for in the first place.
If you’re recognizing yourself in this experience, you’re not alone. Inside the Highly Sensitive Leadership Program, we help HSPs create more impact, income, and ease by learning how to work with their nervous systems instead of against them. If you’d like support, I invite you to schedule a complimentary Clarity Call: https://www.businessmiracles.com/clarity-call/