9 signs you’re a highly sensitive woman

and how to turn it into a secret weapon in your business

Hello love,

Have you ever been told you’re too emotional or too sensitive?

For years, I believed something was wrong with me. My skin felt too thin for this world, and instead of blaming the world for being cruel, I blamed myself for not fitting in.

When I say “the world,” I mostly mean other humans.

People speaking behind each other’s backs, saying one thing while meaning another, avoiding the truth to sidestep confrontation. The inconsistency and hypocrisy would weigh on me for days, leaving me hurt and disappointed.

Social media, when I was using it, only amplified this. I enjoyed creating content there, but the inevitable scroll right after felt like stepping into an arena, constantly reminding me of what I should be doing, achieving, feeling. Constantly hinting at the idea that there’s a secret place where others find constant confidence and an infinite stream of leads and clients that I don’t know about. That I should know about. An image of success that made me question if I was somehow lacking.

Then there’s my sensitivity to others' emotions, like for instance my hyper-awareness of their micro-expressions: a subtle change in their tone, an almost-invisible frown on their forehead, and I’m instantly on alert, reading between the lines and asking myself if we’re okay.

It’s been exhausting, this invisible work of keeping harmony. Of course, social events, summits and networking can feel like a marathon, and showing up online on certain days feels like braving a storm.

And then there’s the weight of the world. The news, the ongoing cruelty, the non-stop suffering. If I read it too often, I just can’t go on. It’s as if I absorb the world’s pain and it’s too big for me to process it.

Over the years, I’ve learned to protect my energy and to avoid triggering situations that prevent me from being my best self and from reaching my goals.

• I select very carefully the people I’m close with.

• I left Instagram at the beginning of 2024 and I don’t rely on social media for visibility.

• I unsubscribe from the newsletters who pretend they have it all figured out and they’ll share their secret with you for only your yearly salary.

• I don’t read the news.

It’s true, I live in my own little bubble. People have told me I was too soft to survive in business, that I’d need to “toughen up.” I used to feel small, like I was not cut out for this path, like success was unattainable for me.

Now I nod and smile, because I know that these people don’t know any better. Because I understand they’re probably burying their own sensitivity away.

Being highly sensitive can’t be turned off. It’s the way we were born. It’s the way we experience the world, and despite what some people believe, it is far from being a weakness.

With some self-understanding and a whole amount of self-knowledge, it can even be a superpower. Especially in business, as it bring a new level of depth and empathy to your work, making people feel seen and understood.

In this article, I’ll write about 9 signs that you too might be highly sensitive, how it shows up and and how to turn your high sensitivity into your secret business weapon.

If you’ve ever felt “too much” or not “tough enough” for entrepreneurship, this is for you.

Photo by Ashi SCB "ZZZPho" on Unsplash

What does it mean to be highly sensitive?

Many of the women I work with identify as being highly sensitive, but what does it mean exactly? Is it the same as being led by our emotions? Is it connected to trauma? Is it similar as having ADHD or other neuro-differences?

I did a little research and here’s what I’ve found out.

Being highly sensitive means experiencing the world with an intensity that’s both challenging and powerful. If you’re a Highly Sensitive Person (HSPs), you process sensory and emotional input more deeply than others, which makes you remarkably perceptive and empathetic. This heightened awareness makes you able to notice subtle details, pick up on unspoken emotions, and tune into atmospheres and energies that might go completely unnoticed by others.

It doesn’t mean that you’re impulsive, and it’s not a disorder. It’s s more like a unique personality trait. What may be confusing is whether the high-sensitivity traits are additional to or overlapping with some of the symptoms of ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder) and CPTSD (complex post traumatic stress syndrome).

I like to look at myself and at others as multi-layered humans, and in the end, I don’t think it really matters why you are the way that you are. What matters is to understand yourself, to accept and love yourself as you are, so that you can manage the challenging parts of being you, and highlight your beautiful qualities. That’s how you can shine and be seen for all you bring to our world.

Also read on this blog : is it ADHD or just life - from denial to acceptance, learning to thrive with a wandering mind.

9 signs you may be a highly sensitive woman

Below I’m sharing 9 signs you may be a highly sensitive person. See how many of them resonate with you and discover how you can actually turn them into super-weapons.

Sign 1 : You have deep empathy and compassion for others

Highly sensitive women often feel others' emotions as if they were their own. That’s because we’re highly tuned into others' needs and so we pick up on their unspoken feelings and subtle cues. This depth of empathy can create strong connections but of course, it can also feel overwhelming, especially if you have some unresolved “saviour” mechanism, pressing you to meet other people’s needs even if they haven’t asked for your help.

Turn it into a business super-weapon : Once you learn to set some healthy boundaries to protect you from identifying too much with your clients and audience, this is a very powerful asset! Some marketers spend years studying psychology, trying to figure out what a specific audience wants, needs, believes, dreams of, fears… You have like a built-in sonar! If you’re highly-sensitive, that becomes so much easier for you to pick up on your audience’s emotions and state of mind. You still need to have a proper strategy in place of course, and ways to communicate and connect with them consistently, but feeling them is not a problem for you.

Sign 2 : Your senses can be easily overwhelmed

Noisy environments, crowded spaces, or packed schedules are a nightmare for you. We all have our specific ways to be overwhelmed, but a common trait for all highly-sensitives is what we call “sensory overload”.

For me, it’s usually the constant noise, too much touch, or if the light isn’t right. I do better in calm environments with dim lights. When there’s been too much stimulation around me, I also notice that wearing tighter clothes and having my hair pulled in a pony tail helps me calm down. Days full of meetings tend to leave me feeling drained, which is why I contain them within certain days only.

When your senses are overwhelmed, you may feel different shades of irritated, experience anxiety or even a full-blown panic attack. It’s hard to focus on anything else until the stimulation has lowered, and the strong desire to break free manifests in various ways from inside your body, silently screaming that this isn’t safe.

Turn it into a business super-weapon : When this happens, your nervous system is dis-regulated. Your stress levels are high and it’s difficult - impossible even - to access your creativity and talents. You need to discover self-care strategies that help you get back to your centre quickly in order to access your internal gifts again. The beauty is you then get to share this with others. By learning to provide safety for yourself, you know how to provide safety for your clients and collaborators, making your environment soothing and welcoming to all.

Read also : what does sensory overload feel like for a highly-sensitive person, by Julie Bjelland LMFT

Sign 3 : You tend to take feedback personally

Feedback is an important part of growth and although we know we shouldn’t take anything personally, we often do. Especially when it’s negative.

I often observe in myself and in my clients that positive comments make us smile for a few minutes maximum, whereas criticism, even if constructive, usually leads us to overthinking and self-doubt.

That’s because as a highly-sensitive person, you want to do things right, and you know that your mind alone cannot see the whole picture. So when you hear feedback, you tend to put yourself into question right away, which makes you second-guess your choices. You may want to reassess your business decisions and strategies more frequently than needed and therefore lose precious time and energy.

Turn it into a business super-weapon: This trait can come off as being undecisive or lacking confidence, when really it’s connected to our capacity to consider other perspectives. When you do that, you gain some precious awareness and so you’re able to adapt and grow faster than those who stay stuck within their tunnel-vision mindset.

In order to make the best of it and access your deep intuition, practice some regulation techniques and/or repeat some mantras that will help you stay regulated. One of my favourite tips: I write down the ideas I find to improve or pivot my decisions and I keep it for a later time. I schedule several “business in review” sessions a year that truly help me realign my decisions, strategies, offers and more. Until it’s that time of the year, though, I only take notes. Then I repeat : “I trust that things are enough as they are right now.”

Sign 4 : You crave purpose and authenticity

Doing work just for the sake of making money? Not for you. As a highly-sensitive person, you crave to find purpose, meaning and authenticity in everything you do. If your work feels disconnected from your values, it can deeply drain your motivation. You won’t feel satisfied or fulfilled.

In business, this can be seen as problematic when you look at successful companies that built their success based on simple data. As in “if the people want cigarettes, and cigarettes make money, then we sell cigarettes”. I’m taking an extreme example, but the way we feel is that intense if you take a direction that is not aligned with who you are and what you believe in. You will always chose meaning and purpose over profit.

Turn it into a business super-weapon: While it my take you longer to find your inner purpose, your brand becomes so much more powerful when it’s deeply connected to your life mission. In other good news, authenticity is essential to you, and it is also essential to your audience, especially nowadays when we’re being surrounded by fakeness. So don’t be shy, tap into your genuine care and share it with the world. That is probably one of your strongest assets.

Sign 5 : You need alone time to recharge

Meetings and social gatherings are draining for highly sensitive people, and alone time is crucial in order to be able to function again. We need this time, undisturbed in a quiet environment, in order to process the experience we’ve been through, the insane amount of conscious and unconscious information we’ve received, and regulate ourselves from all this stimulation.

This can be difficult when you work in-person with your clients or when you participate in conventions, summits and other business gatherings or networking events. It’s not always easy to say out loud : I apologise but it’s becoming too much for me right now and I need to isolate myself somewhere, without you.

Turn it into a business super-weapon: According to Dr Elaine Aron, roughly 15% to 20% of the world population is highly sensitive. And that’s without counting those who have ADHD or other forms of neuro-diversity or introverts. When you allow yourself to voice your need for withdrawal at social events, most of the time you’re also doing them a favour. You may unknowingly give them the permission slip they needed to do just the same thing.

From another point of view, if you’re the event organiser and you allow yourself to be attuned to your own highly sensitive needs, you’re more likely to create an experience that is inclusive of everyone and avoid them to feel overwhelmed.

Sign 6 : You have heightened intuition

Ever felt like there’s something “off” in a situation? Ever thought of someone that although everything seems right on paper, there’s something in their vibe you don’t trust? These are some of the ways in which your intuition plays off.

Many of us highly-sensitive people have strong gut feelings about people and situations. We feel when something isn’t quite right, when someone’s intentions aren’t as pure as they say, when a decision is risky, etc. We’re also able to sense when an opportunity presents itself faster than others.

Some more rational-thinking brains may judge us as being airy-fairy (a word that was actually thrown at me a few years ago), but experience shows otherwise. When interviewed about the strongest assets one can have in business, most successful entrepreneurs mention their intuition.

Turn it into a business super-weapon: The key here is to not downplay your intuitive powers. I see so many people disregard the messages that their body sends them as being against logic, but the more you trust what your intuition says, the more you’ll be able to see how accurate it is. If it’s hard for you to trust it, you may want to try it out for smaller-impact decisions that won’t jeopardise your yearly turnover. My advice is to play with it, see what happens, and trust yourself. This is one of your strongest inner powers.

Sign 7 : You tend to be a perfectionist

Look, you’re highly sensitive, of course you’re going to notice right away when something isn’t straight on a Canva page, when colours aren’t matching, or when the tone of voice used in a blog post or an email isn’t just right.

Combined with their acute eye to detail, many highly sensitive people are also very demanding of themselves and of others. You set the bar higher, which can lead you to over-prepare for everything in your business as you strive for perfection.

Perfectionism is often seen as problematic, especially in a project like building your own business. There are so many things to do, sometimes all at once like when you’re the middle of a launch for instance, that if you wait until reaching perfection before hitting the “publish” or “send” button, you risk wasting a lot of precious time and never finish the projects you started.

Turn it into a business super-weapon: Like always, the key is found in balance. Learning to let go of certain details is crucial in order to make progress, and a missing dot on your blog post or sales page isn’t going to change the face of the world. That said, your meticulous attention to detail is a strength that brings excellence and consistency to your work. Use it to your advantage and you create an outstanding client satisfaction and retention, leading to a positive brand reputation for quality and reliability!

Sign 8 : You’re easily affected by other people's energy

A subtle change in the face of the person you’re speaking with, a shift in their tone or simply their general emotional state, mood or energy, and you know right away. If like me, you also have rejection dysphoria (a trait common for people with ADHD) or trauma-related stress, your alarm system gets set off and it gets hard to maintain a personal sense of calm.

Like I mentioned in the introduction, this one is particularly present for me, and I find it difficult to navigate it on a daily basis. I realise that one of my strongest coping mechanism is to over-adapt to the person, be super attuned to their needs and help them regulate their emotions so I can feel safe again.

Turn it into a business super-weapon: once you learn to make the difference between your personal inner space and other people’s inner spaces, and you make sure you don’t over-identify with them, things become much easier and you can turn your sensitivity to their energy into an incredible superpower. Indeed, with healthy boundaries, this trait means you’re capable of appreciating your clients’ state of mind and you can meet them where they are. You can make sure that your response to their needs is always adequate, and you can avoid their dissatisfaction before it even happens.

Sign 9: You thrive with a strong routine

For years, I was allergic to words like “routine” and “structure”. I wanted my life to be full of spontaneity and surprises! Turns out that this was based on a serious lack of self-knowledge, because as soon as I became more self-aware, I realised that without a strong daily routine, without my daily rhythms and predictable environments, I simply get over-stimulated and exhausted at best, triggered and grumpy at worst.

That’s because highly-sensitive people need some sense of control, a certain predictability in order to manage and reduce their stress. In life just as in business, having a steady rhythm to your days and weeks supports your productivity and helps you feel grounded, especially with the high demands of being an entrepreneur and interacting with clients on a daily basis if you offer services.

Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean that you don’t like surprises or that there’s no place for spontaneity in your life. But you’ll be more able to manage the uncontrollable, unpredictable aspects of life if the majority of your schedule and environment is stable.

Turn it into a business super-weapon : Giving yourself the structures and rhythms you need to flow into balance is a wonderful way to make sure you create steady progress within your business. It does take a little bit of time and effort to understand how you function the best, but once you adapt your working rhythms and habits to your unique energy, you can build a strong consistency that will keep you grounded and have your back even when unforeseen events take place in your business.

Also, even though it’s a trait that is particularly heightened in people with high-sensitivity, having predictable rhythms is beneficial to the vast majority of human beings. Embrace it and you’ll be able to provide your clients with a safe and comfortable environment in which they can grow and thrive.

Also read : 8 tips for solo-preneurs to flow into balance - managing time and energy.

The sooner you embrace your sensitivity, the stronger your business will be

To conclude, being a highly sensitive women in business can something feel like a burden and I believe it’s especially true if you resist it. Once you learn to accept and embrace your sensitivity, it can become a real strength and have a profoundly positive impact on your business and client relationship. After all, being a sensitive human being means essentially being human: it’s an additional tool for connection, which we all need.

I know that sometimes it feels like this world is too much for you, and you wonder if you’re made to be an entrepreneur in such a competitive society. In reality, even the fact that you’re having these thoughts show you how important it is for us all that you keep going.

Not in a way that betrays your sensitivity, but in a way that honours it and celebrates it.

Set stronger boundaries, adapt your working environment, create containers and offers that align with your energy and the way you thrive best, express your needs when you want to withdraw and reset, learn how to find your ground, your centre within yourself so you’re not over-identifying with the people around you…

You’re allowed to change the rules of business and make this world a better place for you. In fact, you must. Because when women in position of leadership start asking for change, others who perhaps don’t have a voice can feel uplifted and inspired to also start accepting and embracing their own sensitivity. And not only women. Men need it too. And then the whole world can start shifting.

But like with everything, it starts within.

Tools to help you on the way

• One of the strategies that has supported me the most over my years in business as a highly sensitive woman is to work closely with other women who share my sensitivity. This is why back in 2022 I started the Soulful Biz Club, a mini-membership where we share resources, guidance, support and advice on thriving as sensitive women in the entrepreneurial world. Join us here, your first month is 50% off!

• Do you feel it’s time to review your business foundations and clear some space? Sparkle Up your Business in 30 days is going to help you do that step by step, minus the overwhelm. Delivered exclusively via email for a soothing experience.

• If you often feel like you’re running your business like a headless chicken and you’re looking to learn how to better manager your energy, create supportive structures and rhythms in your working life, my masterclass Flow into Balance might be exactly what you’re looking for.

I want to hear from you

If you identify as a highly sensitive person, an introvert, as being neuro-divergent or suffering from c-Ptsd, I’d love to hear from you. Did you resonate with the content of this article? Are there other ways in which your sensitivity manifests in your life and business? What are your favourite tools for regulation? I’d love to hear from you, write a comment or send me an email!

Power and light,

Jessica

Coach & digital marketer for sensitive & ambitious women who want to do business with heart, balance and integrity.