The need to rest longer than others

To be comfortable with the need to rest longer than others and spend more time alone to recharge is an inner conflict that highly sensitive people experience regularly. We quietly shame ourselves of this innate need for fear of being judged by the very people who admire our ability to connect intimately with everything that we come in contact with.

Don’t get me wrong - we certainly possess the drive to overcome challenges in the most daring, warrior-like manner. We love feeling the adrenaline pumping, heat pulsing through our body,  sense of power and the nervous excitement, all acting as a catalyst to help charge us forward towards achieving our personal goals. And yet, we may come away feeling overwhelmed by it all, exhausted and needing to catch a breath.

We then question ourselves, ‘there must be something wrong with me?’ ‘Why can't I be more driven so I can achieve more?’

Imagine running a marathon alone, desperate to make it to the finish line that doesn't exist just to prove, to no one watching, that we are winners. 

The struggle is real.

How may we be comfortable to rest longer than others?
How may we be at ease with spending quality time alone to recharge? 

Acknowledge
If I could count the number of times I have dismissed my sensitivity for fear of being isolated without a sense of belonging. I lived in constant despair until I was left with no other option than to acknowledge my emotional fatigue.

Acknowledgement lays the foundation for acceptance, to exist just the way we are, without the need to compete, compare or fear.

Identify
We each get to express our emotions in our own unique way. Rest may mean extra hours of sleep, playing with your fur baby, reading a book or spending time in nature. It could even mean being around people without need to engage through conversation. The key is to observe and identify our needs in every moment so we can provide for it in the most gracious way. 

Honour
Emotions are considered to be either ‘good’ and ‘bad’, making it easy to identify and compartmentalise. Yet, haven't we all experienced the soft relaxing sensation after a good cry or the loving sadness while saying goodbye to a loved one? How can we simply breathe into it these emotions without any labels? When we honour the moment and its emotional vibration, we come to accept the mystical nature of a multi-dimensional life.

The more we acknowledge our own sensitivity, the more present we become with the energy that pulses through every living being on earth. Could there be anything more enriching than this?