Since discovering that I am a Highly Sensitive Person, many puzzle pieces have fallen into place. Unfortunately, I had to experience burnout before I found out that I am HSP, but now that I understand it, I can warn others about the signs of burnout.
As many as 15-20% of people are HSP, which amounts to 1 in 5 people. If you don't recognize or acknowledge this, it takes a lot of energy to act "normal," and adapt to those around you. Only
when you start listening to yourself, and embracing (dare I say it?) yourself, you discover what you do and do not need in order to grow and flourish.
So HSP people are more at risk for burnout, I'll give you 5 reasons why below.
- You experience the world very intensely.
Throughout the day you receive countless stimuli, from people, events or simply from the environment. Where the majority of people may not even notice them, you suck them up like a sponge. As a result, you become overstimulated; you have almost no peace in your head or around you.
Responsibilities at work, interaction with people, household chores, news or programs on TV - it all hits you harder and you find it, or thoughts of it, harder to let go. So incredibly exhausting. - You think of others rather than yourself.
You go through life like a chameleon. You have a razor-sharp sense of other people and situations, so you know exactly what others expect of you - and you act accordingly. You focus on the other person and forget to listen to yourself. You are a people-pleaser, even though you may think this is not so bad. This is ultimately not sustainable for anyone. You become exhausted and live a life at the service of others, when in fact, you often have to choose for yourself and your own happiness, and set your own limits.
must choose, and draw your own boundaries. - You are a perfectionist.
As a perfectionist, you like to be in control and have a keen eye for detail. Visual and mental disorder make you nervous or upset, even if you don't have the time or energy to clean up that inner and home clutter. You like order and structure, and it feels like failure when you're behind the times. That constant pressure to just stay on top of things is debilitating. After all, perfect doesn't exist. If you keep setting the bar so high, burnout is
burnout is lurking. - You doubt yourself and your intuition.
Your altruism and drive for perfectionism make it difficult for you to distinguish between what your real feelings are and the energy you take on from others. This upsets your intuition. You are so attuned to expectations and feelings of others that your
decisions are influenced by them. Are your choices still your choices? If you are not authentically yourself, you are living a life that is not yours. And when the distance between you as a person and your authentic self becomes greater and greater, there is a good chance that burnout
strikes. - You experience more stress than others.
In addition to having to process many more stimuli and like to maintain control, the stress hormone cortisol is also present in greater proportions in HSPs. Cortisol is produced in the adrenal glands, which are organs that have to work hard to process all kinds of sensitivities (including sensitivities to
food). This causes cortisol, and thus your stress level, to skyrocket. Prolonged stress and over-stimulation of the adrenal glands can lead to adrenal exhaustion. The symptoms of this
resemble those of burnout.
But it's not all bad news for HSPs. The good news is that when you become aware of the above points, and spend time and attention on yourself, you don't have to end up in burnout and you can enjoy the qualities that being HSP brings!
Are you highly sensitive and want to get more energy from your work and avoid burnout?