The Sensitive Nervous System Is Not the Problem by Leisa Blanch 

You feel things before other people do. A shift in someone’s mood. Tension in a room before anyone’s said a word.

You’ve probably been told you’re too sensitive. Too reactive. So you learned to push it down, or apologise for it.

When I was a teenager, I had this told to me too. One day, when I was struggling with my emotions, my mum blurted out: “You are just all round sensitive.” It broke me at the time. It also lit a fire in me. I spent years trying to prove her wrong.

But being sensitive isn’t a flaw. Your nervous system is picking up on more than most people’s. Nobody teaches you what to do with that. That’s the actual problem, not the sensitivity itself.

We’re told to toughen up. Stop feeling so much. But shut that down and you lose the exact thing that makes you good at your job, good with people, good at knowing when something’s wrong before anyone says so.

The other advice sensitive people get is the opposite. Meditate more. Rest more. Stay in your inner world where it feels safe. I tried that route too. It helped, but it never gave me what I actually needed.

What did was something my ZEN KI Energy co-founder Daryl talks about, two ends of a beam.

The Yin end is soft, self-reflective, meditative. Balanced, it’s completely open to what’s happening around you, without judgment. Unbalanced, that same sensitivity turns inward and implodes, and you end up flooded by your own emotions instead of steadied by them.

The Yang end works differently. It’s exclusive by nature. Focus only holds because you shut other things out, the extra rep, the last stretch up the hill before you let yourself stop. Balanced, that’s clarity and strength. Unbalanced, it tips into aggression.

I needed both, in balance. All Yin, and I had nothing to hold me. All Yang, and I’d shut out the very sensitivity that makes me good at what I do. Together, they held me steady.

That balance became my answer to my mum, though it took me years to see it that way. I was never going to be less sensitive, and I stopped trying. What I built instead was the strength to carry it.

There’s a quieter balance in this too, between doing and being. It shows up in the smallest moments. You’re tired, and your hand reaches for your phone. A screen. Something to scroll past the feeling. What if, just for that moment, you watched your breath instead. That’s when the body gets a chance to speak, and the mind actually listens. This simple change works on both ends of the beam at once, the Yang of choosing to focus, and the Yin of being fully present with what’s there.

In clinic, I see “sensitive” clients every week who’ve quietly decided their fatigue, their brain fog, their flat mood is just their baseline now. It isn’t. Their blood test results are often off, including the basics such as B12 and iron. Your B12 should sit around 500. Your iron storage should be around 80 if you’re menstruating, higher if you’re not. Your cortisol should peak in the morning and be well down by night. Your hormones should also be tested, not guessed at.

The other thing I find with sensitive bodies is that less is sometimes more. You can be sensitive to supplementation too, until you’ve built up the Yang, or tough end of the beam. So we don’t ignore deficiencies, but we do choose forms that are easy to absorb and gentle on your system.

Do This:

Work both ends, not just one.

Why?

Fifteen minutes of real stillness in the morning, a genuinely hard physical push during the day. One without the other won’t hold you.

Do this:

Catch the small moments.

Why?

Next time you reach for a screen out of tiredness, try one minute of watching your breath instead. See what happens.

Do this:

Be careful who and what you let in.

Why?

You don’t owe everyone access to your energy. Notice who you let close before you’ve steadied yourself first.

Do this:

Get your bloods checked, and get the support you need.

Why?

A sensitive nervous system running on low B12, low iron, or a flattened cortisol curve will feel worse than it needs to, and will make you further anxious, wanting to retreat. Work with a practitioner who knows what to look for, not just what’s “in range.”

You don’t need to change who you are. You just need enough strength to carry it. That’s what lets me sit with a client and understand exactly what they need, and keep doing it week after week without it costing me my own energy. And it’s what I’d love for you to find too. The world needs us, and we need to show up for the world, in a thoughtful, yet sustainable way.

About the Author

Leisa Blanch is the lead naturopath and director of Gisborne Health Essentials, the largest naturopathic clinic in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria. Leisa is also co-founder of ZEN KI Energy, a bioenergetic wellness brand offering wearable tools, qigong practices, retreats, and an online community for sensitive, aware people navigating an overstimulating world.

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