𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗹𝘀 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 💛

Marie McAneney

3h • General Discussion

For most of my life, I thought I was just “too sensitive.”

Too emotional.

Too aware.

Too deeply affected by things other people seemed to brush off.

A change in someone’s tone.

A short reply.

Feeling left out.

Someone seeming distant.

Being corrected.

And suddenly my whole nervous system would spiral trying to work out what I’d done wrong.

I’ve also always had 50,000 ideas and projects happening at once.

My mind rarely slows down.

I get inspired easily.

Excited easily.

Bored easily too.

Lately, I’ve been learning more about ADHD, nervous systems, emotional regulation, and sensitivity… and honestly, so much of my life suddenly makes sense.

I haven’t been diagnosed.And truthfully, I’m not overly attached to labels anyway. Labels are for cans. 😉

But understanding that some nervous systems experience rejection, criticism, overwhelm, and emotions more intensely has helped me meet myself with far more compassion.

For years I thought something was wrong with me.

Now I see it differently.

I don’t see my sensitivity as weakness anymore.

I see it as awareness.

As intuition.

As creativity.

As empathy.

As the part of me that notices what others often miss.

I also know I need quiet.

Stillness

Space to regulate my nervous system and return to myself.

That’s why meditation, stitching, neurographical art, zentangles, yoga, sound, mindfulness, and creative projects have become such important parts of my life.

Not because they “fix” me.But because they help me slow down enough to breathe inside my own mind again.

So many of us grew up hearing:

“You’re too sensitive."

“You’re overthinking.”

“Stop taking things so personally.”

So we learned to mask it.

Hide it.

Push through it.

Pretend we were okay.

Meanwhile internally, we were replaying conversations for hours.

But maybe sensitivity was never the problem.

Maybe some of us were simply wired to feel deeply, create deeply, love deeply, and experience the world in a different way.