As an introvert, there are times when I just feel over-stimulated, and I need to find some peace, quiet, stillness, calm.
If I can’t, I start to feel exhausted and fractured. I can’t think straight or concentrate.
Sometimes I manage to self-soothe a little by going within, but that’s not always an option.
Today’s been one of those days.
I had to drop the car off for its MOT, and it was too far to get back to the sanctuary of my home office.
“Never mind,” I thought to myself “It would be quite nice to work from a coffee shop for a change while I wait”.
How wrong I was!
I realised I’d forgotten my headphones, so couldn’t obliterate the sound of the world around me.
Then I realised it was school holidays, so there was a never-ending stream of people and kids – loud big groups, anxious gossip, clattering cups, lots of perpetual motion, beeping timers and mobile phones.
I managed about an hour before, feeling vulnerable and irritated in equal measure, I left to buy some headphones in the local supermarket and to try a different coffee shop.
And here I am now – a little quieter this time, thanks to my headphones, but in unattractive busy surroundings with the most horrible smell of burnt cheese – and a floor that shakes every time someone walked past. Right now it feels as if all my senses had just been rubbed raw.
I’ve never thought of myself as a Highly Sensitive Person (or HSP), I just thought I was a grumpy introvert, but today I’m wondering…and craving peace and stillness.
