One Simple Way to Track Your Growth as an HSP

I LOVE “before & after” photos.

Like when we gutted our garage (uuuuuugh) and turned it into a wonderful workspace (ahhhhhh …)

It’s so satisfying to document progress, isn’t it?

If only we could take “before & after” photos of our growth as HSPs.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to witness neuroplasticity in action … watching the neural networks in your brain change as you make new choices?

Like the new choice I made a few weeks ago, just before going kayaking.

I can’t show you any “before & after” photos that document my progress, because it was a change in my thinking.

But I did find a way to capture clear evidence of my growth.

Below, you can watch a super-short video* of me sharing the story — or read the transcript.

Keep scrolling down, and you’ll also find a printable “before & after” journaling page to help you track your own growth.

It’s a practical tool designed to help you celebrate your progress thus far … and gain more hope to keep on growing.

Super-Short Video

*Note: This is a short excerpt from a conversation in the Sensitive & Strong Community Cafe.

Transcript

*Note: This is a short excerpt from a conversation in the Sensitive & Strong Community Cafe.

One of the things that did happen last Saturday when we went kayaking is I had been so careful to buy everything I needed … I had bought a long-sleeve shirt so that I wouldn’t get horribly sunburned, and I had my hat with me, and we had special covers for our cell phones …

Anybody want to guess the one thing I forgot to take with me?

I forgot to take sunblock!

That was the thing I’d told you, “I’m going to take sunblock with me. I’m not going to come back sporting one of my bright red lobster sunburns.” And so now I’m conflicted. I’m like, “Do we go home and get it? It’s 20 minutes away. Do we try to find a store nearby? They might have a little store where they sell it.”

But there was a part of me that’s like, “No. I already paid perfectly good money for sunblock. I am not buying another tube of sunblock.” And I’m like “Whoop … but I told everybody in The Cafe I was going to take sunblock and not come back with a sunburn. What am I going to do?”

Long story short: When we finally got there, and they opened up, they did have sunblock for sale. So I did buy the sunblock, and I slathered all over, and I did not get a sunburn.

But when I came back, and I was talking to my son about it, I said, “So here’s the weird thing. First of all, there was a part of me like, if I hadn’t told you guys that I was not going to come home with a sunburn, I would not have bought it. Like, what is that about? There is some part of my brain that believes I deserve to be punished for forgetting it. That somehow if I let myself get a sunburn and punish myself with it, I would remember it the next time.”

I am 57. There is no proof that that technique has ever worked or ever will work — like that has been long since proven to be false.

(Oh, and when we got back in the car, I just took the tube — the one that I purchased — I put it in my husband’s glove compartment, and so now we have one in his car for whenever we need it. And I’m like, “Look at me!” I suddenly felt smug, now that it had a really good use. It wasn’t just the tube I forgot and now I’ve wasted money on it; it’s the emergency one that’s in the glove compartment.)

So I was telling my son, “Look, I have all of this noise in my head, about punishing myself about forgetting. But I have no story to reinforce that I made a good decision to actually buy the tube other than the fact that I can come and tell you all, ‘I did the right thing! I practice what I preach!’” 

And so here’s what he suggested, and I thought this was brilliant:

“What would happen if you went through today and imagined all throughout the day, how this day would be ‘better’ if you had a flame red sunburn. Like, how would that ‘contribute’ to your day? Or, what are you able to do today because you don’t have a lobster sunburn.”

And I was like, “That’s genius.” And so I did. I went through the next day and I was like,

• “Oh, I’m having a really good time taking this walk because I don’t have a sunburn.”

• “I’m enjoying my breakfast because I don’t have a sunburn.”

Like, the whole day, I was like, “What if, as we’re changing habits as HSPs — especially as we’re learning to not try so hard — we could have a running narrative in our head?” Like, you know, we’re so ‘good’ with the Inner Critic that bashes us all that time.

But what if we could set ourselves up when we’re doing something new, to actively go through that period of time and recognize everything is better today? Everything is waaaay better today — like enjoy it extra! — because I made that choice yesterday to buy the tube and not have the sunburn.

Here’s a Practical Tool for You

Here’s the promised printable:

It’s a “before & after” journaling page to help you track your own growth.

It’s a practical tool designed to help you celebrate your progress thus far … and gain more hope to keep on growing.

I’d love to hear how it works for you!