how to manage your energy as a highly sensitive person this holiday season

The holiday season is upon us, and if you’re sensitive, you’re probably feeling at least a little bit of dread about it all.

It’s the coldest, darkest time of the year, and the holidays come with a whole host of family and social expectations.

If you’re sensitive, you know exactly what I’m talking about—the pressure to go spend Thanksgiving dinner with family when, honestly, you’d much rather stay home and enjoy a calm, quiet moment in your own space.

Retreat is one of the main ways many highly sensitive people have learned to manage the energy of the world around them… energy they’re very good at subtly tuning into.

Do you walk into a room and immediately sense the vibe? If so, I’m talking to you.

But here’s the thing… for a whole number of reasons, retreat isn’t always the best option. What if you actually want to go to a Friendsgiving with a big group of people, but you don’t want to feel emotionally drained afterward?

It’s important for our growth and well-being to engage with the world around us. Which is why finding other ways to manage your energy as a sensitive person matters—so you can go out into the world and stay connected to your center, even in the middle of the chaotic holiday season.

There’s a saying: “If you think you’re enlightened, go spend a few days with your biological family.”

For most of us, spending time with bio family is triggering and emotional. It can bring up things from the past you’d rather not re-open. Family members may be at different levels of consciousness, with some unable to see you in present time or respect your boundaries and that can be painful.

I want to offer you a few key ways I’ve found, as a highly sensitive person myself, to manage my energy during the holiday season. I hope they support you, too!

1. Turn up the amusement and humor.

Laughter is an incredible energy diffuser. When all else fails, laugh about it. Going into a family or social gathering with a sense of amusement or an ability to laugh at whatever happens can be some of the best energetic protection out there. Surround yourself with people you can joke about the insanity with. This isn’t about using humor to deflect or avoid what’s painful. It’s about cultivating a lightness of spirit, where you can crack a joke instead of becoming overly serious or weighed down.

2. Take meditation breaks.

If you have a psychic or energetic boundary practice, it will absolutely support you in managing your energy during any social experience. I have been known to “go to the bathroom” during family gatherings and, instead of actually using the toilet, sit on it, meditate, and use my tools. I give myself a mini healing right there in the middle of the gathering to find my center again if I’ve been knocked off it!

If you don’t have a psychic self-healing practice, simply take a few moments to yourself and breathe. You can also schedule an energy healing after a big gathering to help you release anything you picked up and come back to yourself… so you’re not carrying that energy around for a week afterward, feeling funky or depressed. Kinda like how you would schedule in a massage for some self-care after a stressful time.

3. Wield your “no” and say yes consciously.

You do not HAVE to do anything this holiday season. Let me say that again: no matter what your mom says or what the social energy around you implies… you do not have to do anything you don’t want to do this holiday season!

This season gets to be yours.

Practice making it yours by saying “no” to an invite when you genuinely don’t want to go, and saying “yes” consciously when you choose to participate (knowing what you might be walking into). When you opt into family time with intention, you feel empowered because it was a choice, not a guilt response.

Walking into a situation with ownership over your decision makes you far more likely to feel grounded rather than defeated. Don’t be afraid to say, “No, I won’t be coming,” and let yourself say “yes” only when it feels aligned.

4. Practice after-care.

Especially while you’re building your energetic boundaries muscle, it’s essential to plan for after-care. Give yourself something nourishing after a holiday gathering: quiet time alone in your room, a massage, or an energy healing to help you release, reset, and return to yourself.

Do the things that help you reconnect to you: journaling, energy work meditation, time in nature.

When you plan for after-care, you’ll find it so much easier to engage with the holiday season in a way that actually works for you.

However you choose to spend your holiday season this year… I hope these tips can help you navigate it with clarity, confidence, and compassion.

Being highly sensitive in a world that does not validate sensitivity can definitely be challenging… but you don’t need to feel like you are the only one or that there is something wrong with you. Being sensitive is a huge gift to yourself and to the world if you know how to work with it. 

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