EPISODE 03.

Too Sensitive or Deeply Human? Reclaiming Your Sensitivity as Sacred Power

Oxygen for Women Podcast

with Perry Janssen

Have you ever been told you're "too sensitive"? This episode is for every woman who has heard those words from a partner, parent, boss, colleague, or from that critical voice inside her head.

Perry dismantles the myth that sensitivity is a flaw and reframes it as intelligence, attunement, and sacred power. If you've been taught to numb, minimize, or apologize for feeling deeply, this conversation will remind you that your sensitivity is not something to fix; it's something the world desperately needs.

Key Segments

The Wound of "Too Sensitive"

• When women are called "too sensitive," it's rarely a compliment—it's used to dismiss, minimize, and shut something down
• The hidden messages: "You feel too much. Your emotions are inconvenient. I can't handle your emotions. You should toughen up. You're the problem."
• Over time, many women learn to numb out, downplay their feelings, apologize for their reactions, second-guess their intuition, and swallow their truth
• The result: women who don't trust themselves anymore—not because they're broken, but because they've been taught that feeling deeply is a flaw.

Sensitivity Is Not a Weakness—It's Intelligence

• From a psychological perspective, sensitivity is information and intelligence
• It's how we read nuance, detect danger, sense emotional undercurrents, and experience empathy and compassion
• Sensitive people notice what others miss: shifts in tone, subtle changes in energy, emotional truth beneath words, when something is off before it's obvious
• This isn't weakness—it's attunement

Imagining a World Without Sensitivity

• No one noticing suffering or moved by injustice
• No one feeling the pain of others or caring enough to intervene
• Sensitivity gives rise to: compassion, social change, ethical leadership, creativity, healing professions, caregiving, art, and justice movements
• If we didn't feel, we wouldn't protect, respond, or care
• A numb world isn't a safer world—it's a more dangerous one

Why Women Are Targeted for Their Sensitivity

• Women are expected to be emotionally available for others (the caregivers) but not emotionally inconvenient
• The contradictions: Be caring but not affected. Be nurturing but not overwhelmed. Have it together. Be intuitive, but don't be reactive.
• Historically, women's emotional lives have been dismissed, pathologized, or controlled
• Common dismissals: "She's too emotional." "Don't be so dramatic." "You're so sensitive."
• These labels have been used for centuries to undermine women's authority, truth, and knowing
• Women are taught to turn sensitivity against themselves, asking "What's wrong with me?" instead of "What is my sensitivity showing me?" 

Reclaiming Sensitivity as Sacred Power

Perry offers a powerful reframe:

• Sensitivity is not the problem—unprotected sensitivity is
• What sensitive people need:
  • Boundaries: Not about controlling other people, but about protecting and nurturing yourself—treating your sensitivity as a precious treasure and sacred power
  • Nervous system regulation: Tools to care for your sensitive system (a recurring theme in future episodes)
  • Self-trust: Permission to honor your signals
• Sensitivity becomes painful when it's unsupported, shamed, or overridden
• When honored, sensitivity becomes: discernment, wisdom, depth, and presence
• Many women don't need to become less sensitive—they need to become less self-abandoning
• They need to stop gaslighting their own experience so they can stop others from gaslighting them
• They need to learn how to tend to their sensitive nervous system instead of judging and beating themselves up

Guided Practice: Reclaiming Your Sensitivity

Perry leads listeners through a body-based affirmation practice:

1. Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly.
2. Take a slow breath in through your nose, exhale gently through your mouth.
3. Silently say to yourself, "Nothing is wrong with me for feeling. It's my superpower."
4. Notice what happens in your body. No fixing, no forcing, just noticing.
5. Try: "My sensitivity is intelligence."
6. Finally: "My sensitivity deserves care, not criticism."
7. Take one more breath.

This is how reclamation begins. Not by hardening, but by befriending yourself again.

Powerful Quotes

"Being sensitive is not a pathology. There's nothing wrong with you. It is not a character defect. It is not something to fix."

"Sensitivity is information. It's intelligence. It's how we read nuance. It's how we detect danger. It's how we sense emotional undercurrents. It's how empathy really functions."

"Can you imagine a world without sensitive people? No one would be noticing suffering. No one would be moved by injustice."

"I don't want to live in a sociopathic world or a numbed-out world. A numb world isn't a safer world. It's a more dangerous one."

"Sensitivity is not the problem. Unprotected sensitivity is."

"Many of the women I work with don't really need to become less sensitive. They need to become less self-abandoning."

"What if you're not too sensitive? You're just living in a world that has forgotten how to feel deeply."

"What if your sensitivity is not a liability but a contribution and a gift?"

"You are not here to numb yourself into belonging. You are here to be your full humanness, to feel, to respond, to care. And that is something the world desperately needs more of."

Final Invitation

If you've been called too sensitive, consider this:

• What if you're not too sensitive? You're just living in a world that has forgotten how to feel deeply.
• What if your sensitivity is not a liability but a contribution and a gift?
• What if learning to honor it is part of a larger, quieter revolution?

Call to Action

Thank you for being here, for listening, and truly, for your sensitivity. If this episode spoke to you:

• Subscribe to the podcast
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• Share it with someone who needs to hear this message

Have a sensitive day!