In this episode, Mary and Christine explore the challenges of being a highly sensitive person (HSP) in today's demanding work environments. Mary shares her struggle with returning to a five-day office schedule in an open workspace with 770 people, where constant Zoom meetings, fluorescent lighting, strong fragrances, and overwhelming noise levels make it nearly impossible to focus on complex analytical work. What started as complaints about her commute evolved into a deeper realization about sensory processing sensitivity and how environmental stimuli can profoundly impact productivity and well-being.
The conversation reveals how highly sensitive people pick up not just on physical stimuli but also on others' emotions and moods, creating both advantages (like better situational awareness) and challenges (like emotional overwhelm in crowded spaces). Christine relates through her own experiences with sound sensitivity and family dynamics, while both hosts discuss the importance of understanding these traits as neurodivergent characteristics rather than pathologies. They emphasize that labels like HSP, or Sensory Processing Sensitivity, are only useful when they lead to practical coping strategies and self-understanding, noting that about 30% of employees in Mary's workplace report noise as a significant distraction—likely much higher among those actually working in the office daily.
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Resources:
Sensitive Refuge https://highlysensitiverefuge.com/sensitive-book/
The Highly Sensitive Person https://hsperson.com/
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
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