You know the feeling when you’re with a group of people and everyone around you seems to be engaged and participating in the conversation with ease, everyone that is but you?

The group is laughing and enjoying the stories being swapped, while you are left to the thoughts in your head.

The first thought says something like: “Speak up, nobody likes a mute.”

Then another part of you responds back inside your head saying “I don’t have anything interesting to say. Whenever I do say something, people either look at me like they don’t understand or they completely ignore me.”

And so the conversation continues, both within your head and around you, leaving you feel like you have shrunk internally to about half your size.

The difficult part is you don’t get why this is happening to you.

You try to be friendly, yet something happens that turns social interactions into awkwardness.

You do try to put yourself out “there,” yet there are only so many times when you share your opinion or even what you do and still no one seems to “get” what you are saying.

So what is really going on here?

If this sounds like you, I’ve got 2 doses of good news and a bit of bad news.

The good news is you are emotionally sensitive.

The bad news is this can be very challenging to navigate if you do not understand your emotions from an empowered perspective.

The other dose of good news is that you absolutely, 100% can learn to utilize your emotional sensitivity to be a huge gift to yourself and others!

What you must understand is that being emotionally sensitive is not understood by the majority, because, currently, emotions are not recognized to be a helpful, positive, life-affirming aspect to who we are.

Because of this misunderstanding with our emotional selves, it makes sense that those who tend to be more attuned to their own (as well as other people’s) emotions would also feel misunderstood right?

Here are a few options to begin to shift from being misunderstood to being highly understood and received:

1. When people freeze in a conversation, it is often because they are looking outside of themselves for approval. Rather than look to others to acknowledge you, in what ways can you acknowledge yourself? List those reasons for your own approval out on paper and read over the list prior to attending social gatherings.
2. Recognize how your small self is making the conversation about you. Instead, take the focus off of you by making the conversation about others. Notice if this is difficult for you without judgment. For people who have struggled with not feeling seen, putting the focus on others can feel like a challenge. If this is something you struggle with, make #3 a must!
3. Use being misunderstood, as a signal to understand yourself at a deeper emotional level. You can do this right now by signing up here for The International Institute for Emotional Empowerment Celebratory Kick-Off Call.

You see the more you are able to receive the gift of your feelings, the more you will be able to receive others feelings. On this celebratory call, I’ll share more about how being emotionally sensitive can lead you to unknowingly try to deflect and/or soothe/calm other people in a way that makes you lose yourself.

If you join me for this call, and I hope you do, you’ll learn in even greater depth why gaining this empowered understanding of your emotions doesn’t just benefit you, but also positively impacts those around you. To sign up now, go to https://iiee.training/

If you know of others who struggle with feeling misunderstood or not fitting in, can you pass along the details on how to sign up for the call as well?

It’s time we turn the disempowered understanding regarding emotional well-being upside down and create meaningful and empowered connection with ourselves and with each other!

With Love and Enthusiasm for Change,