09/10/2026
The directive to ‘listen to your body’ can be enough to make you roll your eyes. WHAT DOES IT EVEN MEAN?!
So … let’s talk about it.
I took this picture of myself at the end of the day when I was feeling spent. I’d had a good day - a great day, even - and even still, I was reaching capacity.
My response to recognising I was at capacity was to:
- tell my family I was out of ‘spoons’ (we often use the language from spoon theory to communicate our capacity with each other)
- lay down on the floor
- rock, sway and close my eyes.
I can talk about why I chose the above strategies in another post … but right now, I’d love to share what I ‘heard’ from my body that helped me figure out where I was at.
🙉 I noticed that I wanted to block out noise. People talking was grating on my nerves - the content was fine, the noise was too much!
🙊 I didn’t feel like speaking, even for my Duolingo lesson. Talking felt too energy intensive. Could I do it? Yes. But I *really* didn’t want to.
👁️ My eyes were heavy
💪 My limbs were heavy
😣 I felt a bit ‘weird’. This is a familiar but hard to articulate feeling that is a hybrid of fatigue, sadness and anxiety. It’s always a signal for me that I’m reaching capacity.
👂My ears hurt. Another personal sensory ‘quirk’ that I’ve learned to pay attention to.
This, for me, is listening to my body. I had to learn what those signs meant and what I needed when I was experiencing them. And this is what I support my clients to do.
Why? Because ignoring them is deeply costly for highly sensitive and neurodivergent people. We pay in exhaustion, burnout, self-criticism and a sense of disconnection from ourselves.
I’d love to hear from you: what do you notice when you need to take a pause, rest or change focus?
And if you want support to explore this for yourself, I currently have capacity for 1-1 counselling. Reach out if I can support you 😊
