It’s been a while since I first read this post about Highly Sensitive People.

I definitely have some HSP tendencies.  Especially the startle one.  Even if I know Dan is in the house, if he comes up to me unexpectedly, I will gasp and flinch.

A month or two ago I was talking to a director at work.  His voice slightly raised at the same moment I looked away, and I literally jumped.  There is no recovering from that socially.

But I also don’t handle violent movies very well, can take on others’ moods or emotions, and get frazzled when more than one person is trying to talk to me at once.  (Which is the definition of motherhood, I’m fairly certain.)

What about you?  Do you get overwhelmed by the world?  Do you often need to be alone to regroup?

If you do, maybe all this Stress Month talk is no big thing to you.  You probably have already figured out how to manage your energy well.

But there is another part of me.  Maybe you, too.

The part that wants to be involved in lots of things.  To travel and meet interesting people.  To not miss out on something exciting or fun.

And then there’s our world.  So much information bombarding us at once.

I always get Foster’s voice in my head when I think about these things:

“Many of us would find great relief in discovering our own cycles of activity and quiet.  For example, I function best when I alternate between periods of intense activity and periods of comparative solitude.  When I understand this about myself I can order my life accordingly.  After a certain amount of immersion in public life, I begin to burn out.  And I have noticed that I burn out inwardly long before I do outwardly.  Hence, I must be careful not to become a frantic bundle of hollow energy, busy among people but devoid of life.  I must learn to retreat, like Jesus, and experience the recreating power of God…

This knowledge grants a wonderful freedom.  No longer do I rebuke myself that I am not giving enough attention to study and meditation in the days of intense activity among people.  Nor do I any longer malign periods of quiet reflection or vacation as unproductive sloth.  I can understand the value of the hidden preparation through which God puts his ministers.  I am free from desiring public gaze when I need hiddenness…”

(Freedom of Simplicity, pg 108)

I just love that Someone Whose job title was Savior of the World, regularly retreated to be alone. This did not diminish what He had to do; rather it was the goal.  In order to be able to offer Himself to others – and to know what to offer – He needed to retreat to be with His Father.

How well do you do with this?  Does a “bundle of hollow energy” ever describe you?  Do you need to schedule in more daily breaks with Him?  Weekly Sabbaths?  Monthly retreats?