If you’re a highly sensitive person and you’re struggling with your post lockdown adjustments of transitioning back into the office. Well, you’re not alone.

The lifting of lockdown life came fast and relatively sudden, after almost two years of curating a protective routine during the pandemic around spending more time working at home, seeing as few people as possible. It’s understandable that this would be particularly overwhelming and anxiety-provoking to those more sensitive people, who live life with a nervous system that is extra sensitive to their environments.

After such a prolonged break from crowds, open-plan office environments, bustling streets, and hectic daily routines, it can be helpful to affirm that you may feel a little like an animal emerging from a period of hibernation and then some. Your old routines may feel even more jarring and overstimulating than they did pre-lockdown.

A few common issues zooming into my therapy room:

Overstimulation. Spending more time back in the office with bright lights, ongoing background noise, and cross conversations may be a struggle for you. If your office is open plan, you may feel overexposed, which could impact your ability to focus and concentrate on tasks at your desk.

Sapped Energy. Your sensitivity to other people’s expressions, moods, smells, tones in closer physical proximity may well mean you feel depleted more often than you’re used to. You may find you’re using the weekends to recover your energy in order to start the new working week.

Dealing with frequent interruptions. You’re likely a deep thinker and that ability during lockdown to have more control over your interruptions and daily productivity may already be a distant memory. Trying to cope with increased diversions and social interactions may leave you feeling frustrated and thinking you aren’t able to do your job well enough anymore.

The question is what can you do about it?

So here are 3 tips I have found have been helpful in working with some highly sensitive clients in the post lockdown return to the office:

1 Create a sanctuary.

Schedule time when you can take a walk outside and breathe in fresher air. If you work in a city or built-up environment how about a park walk or seek out an area you can consider a sanctuary from your workday.

Creating or finding a place you can visit to eat lunch, take in a different view, be alone to recharge can assist your ability to see the rest of the day through. Places like this help to regain perspective and come back to yourself if you need time to reflect before responding or acting.

2 Experiment with practical adjustments.

Try and specify what aspects of your work environment are most difficult to cope with and then consider them with a problem-solving mindset. An example could be investing in some noise cancellation headphones during your commute or when you need to be able to focus on a piece of work in the office.

Or perhaps reconsidering your desk layout and investing in a plant or an object of beauty you can touch or look at when you’re feeling overwhelmed.

Trying to limit harmful blue light from your digital devices which can have a negative impact on your eyes, sleep, and general wellbeing with prolonged usage by suppressing the release of the hormone melatonin. It can disrupt sleep cycles, as well as mood and concentration. Sourcing a clinically approved screen filter for your device could be helpful if you spend long days working from your phone and laptop.

3 Pace yourself.

Try to practice self-compassion, acknowledging that it may take time to adjust to your new routine and that there may be aspects that you experience especially challenging. That’s ok. An example of this is fostering a practice of daily gratitude and noticing what you have been able to do. Remember it’s noticing the little things on a daily basis that make a difference such as savouring a nutritious lunch.

Take one thing at a time. Only once that arrives at a steadier state of integration then look to the next priority.

Finally,

Be open to expanding your self-awareness through this process. As our external environment changes so too can our responses to pay attention and observe so you are able to notice what could serve you better.

There is a great deal of depth and nuance to these matters, so I don’t want to appear to be able to distill all of that into a few tips! However, these are solid effective starting points for your consideration. Take your time and be patient with taking sustainable steps towards identifying your needs to finding ways in which they can be met well enough.

If you find this anything discussed here resonates with your own experience and you’re less aware of your own sensitive traits, you’re welcome to get in touch by emailing hello@deniseelamaley.com or find out more about my practice work here www.deniseelamaley.com.

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