Even reading this made me feel a bit emotional haha. I loved this conversation, and I honestly don't think i've related to a piece more, especially as someone with ADHD who has always recognised a lot of HSP traits in myself. The constant processing, the emotional intensity, needing time after things to come back to yourself, feeling like the world can be too loud and still being deeply curious about everything in it. AI sits in such a strange place there. Sometimes it helps me slow down enough to hear my own thoughts, and sometimes it can pull me into even more processing when what I actually need is just a moment of silence. Everyone here spoke about that tension with so much honesty. Using the tool, appreciating the tool, but still trying to stay close to yourself while you use it. What a wonderful read :)
Jade, your comment makes my heart so happy. It's a wonderful thing finding a space where people just "get you" and you see yourself. I felt that too with everything that was shared here. What we have in common is such a precious gift.
Adding AI to the mix creates such a strange tension for me and I am really looking forward to exploring it further - Dr Lynn will be writing more on HSPs too!
Wow, I absolutely love this piece -- it's such an important conversation, and I appreciate how each of you shared your experience as well as your tips. (Hello magnesium!)
I love reading about how other sensitive folks (and maybe some fellow projectors, if you're into human design 😜) navigate the pace of information, when as sensitive beings we're constantly processing, receiving, calibrating and navigating. It's like a massive tidal wave sometimes and I've had to put in my own somatic stopgaps to stay grounded.
Your suggestions were a great reminder of the importance of getting back into our bodies -- with nature, stretching, teas, time -- and how that can help to re-regulate.
It's so easy to keep going faster and faster -- and I literally feel permission to go slower, keep tending to my sensitive being and heart, and experience how both things can co-exist.
Cara, your note makes my heart so happy! I’m so very glad it resonated with you (huge fan of magnesium!). I have wanted to create this for a while as it's something I keep circling - wondering how on earth this all works out for our nervous systems and what balance looks like. I loved that everyone shared something different too. I’m so curious about what we have to say in part two as well…!
This is such a beautiful and important conversation. I really love how each of you described AI not just as a tool, but as something that interacts with your nervous system, your creativity, your boundaries, and your sense of self. That feels like such an important layer of the AI conversation, and one we don’t talk about enough.
Also, seeing this group of women in one post made me so happy. These are all women I truly admire and respect in this space, and it felt very special to read your reflections together. Thank you for being so vulnerable and generous with this. 🩷🦩
Aw thanks for this thoughtful comment Pinkie ♡ It was a nice break to talk about these personal uses for AI, and hear about how others use it too. I love how Dallas structured it! And all the respect & admiration goes right back atcha ♡
Aww thanks Pinkie! I think it was so important to share too. We need to keep talking about what it is like interacting with AI and how to do this in a way that allows us all to thrive 🩷
I am fortunate to be retired and not forced to use AI for work. I’m noticing a sadness at the “fake” I’m experiencing here, even on substack. As someone who is a highly sensitive person, I seek “the real.” I’m choosing to use substack less now because it seems even my favorite authors are using AI more in their writing. Ugh. Call me old or old fashioned, but I want genuine connection.
Genuine connection is what I think we all long for. I find that as I get older, I do think it matters increasingly more to me, or perhaps I tolerate the opposite less?
AI can be a great assistance with the editing process, but we do all hold very different lines with it and I’m sorry that you’ve noticed such a change in the way your favourite authors create connection - that must be very frustrating!
Thanks for responding. It’s not frustrating so much as sad. I don’t have that kind of investment (at my age) in Substack or any social media to be frustrated. 😉 It just saddens me that the art of “the real” (aka heart-felt writing) has become muddled with AI soul-less output simply for the sake of getting likes or subscribers or increasing stats. Just my opinion.
I'm so sensitive that honestly, when I saw this post and I realized you haven't invited me to chime in, I really felt attacked and I'm not even kidding 🤣🤣🤣
I LOVE YOU THOUGH, so forgive me ❤️ this is great, feels so close to home, I felt every word of it and I can relate fully.
NOOOOO. Mia, there will be a follow-up to join in on, I am sure of it!! As a fellow INFJ, I would defs have said a high chance you are also HSP - our brains are all pure joy and delight 😆
So glad this meant something to you and you could see yourself it in 🩷🩷
haha not all us sensitive contributors feeling AWFUL now!!! 😆🥺🫣 Hopefully Dallas puts together another collab one day :) After this, all I want to do is keep reading more perspectives on it, including yours! <3
Dallas, what a gift this conversation is. Sitting in this room with these four writers felt like exactly the right company.
The thread I keep returning to is what Natalie named so precisely: it wasn't that we needed to become less sensitive. We needed to stop abandoning ourselves. That's the work underneath the label, and it's some of the most important work a person can do.
If anyone here wants to go deeper on what this looks like in practice, I work one-on-one and would love to talk.
I don’t think Dallas could have structured it any better… her instinct to have your section wrapping it was perfect. Because as much as AI helps, having a real expert with lived-experience just takes it to a brand new level. I learned so much.
I will always think about my energy like a bank account now!
Thank you and appreciate you saying yes to this idea so very much, Lynn! I love that each of us took a different angle that contributed perfectly to the whole.
"I needed to stop abandoning myself every time I sensed someone else’s discomfort" is so marvellously stated. So hard in practise!
I look forward to where this conversation goes into the future.
Love how everyone shared their experiences and I feel seen in Dr. Lynn's reflection on emptying the tank and deleting conversations, I have done that :). I also cry at every movie, doesn't matter good or bad, Dallas 🥴.
Working with AI is having choices, not performing, not holding back, just being. Sending hearts to everyone who opened up here, this subject is so important to bring to the light. Thank you Dallas for putting this together! 🩵
Last night I cried watching this new Sally Fields movie about an Octopus on Netflix, and it was so funny coming online and seeing everyone relate/talk about this exact thing!
(My husband leaning over every 5 min to see if i’m “crying yet” lol)
But I love how you put that Anna – working with AI is definitely a choice we didn’t use to have, and its nice to not hold back with it. I love everything about the way Dallas structured this collab!
Do you guys get mad at a movie if there is not a happy ending? I saw My Oxford Year on Netflix a few weeks ago... I don't want to spoil the ending but google it first if you haven't watched it!
Thank you, Anna, for saying yes too! I love the "empty the tank" framing - I think I need to delete a few conversations as well.
I think you hit on a core issue perfectly - we don't all have to run a million miles an hour with AI, just simply adapt it to what we need, not the other way around.
I finished a book last night and got teary just because it ended and I enjoyed the book 😆
Creative, Dallas. Bravo. I love stories and interviews. You have some cool friends with interesting stories. Lynn Fraley has some depth to her answers, and I'd like to see her co-author with you, further.
Thanks so much, Georgia! This one was so fun to create with such amazing people who said yes to sharing part of their journey. I'm sure Dr Lynn will pop up again here for sure!
You all are speaking my language! I can relate to much of what was said and have found AI helpful to process my thoughts and feelings like a journal that talks back, like Natalie said. Have each of you included in your personal context for your AI that you are an HSP? If so, how do you feel that changed your interactions?
Ohh love this question Fran! I actually never explicitly told it, but through our conversations it remembered (ChatGPT moreso than Claude… because thats the LLM I used first as my ‘journal’). Chat loves relating everything back to my nervous system! lol
Hey Fran! Your comment made my heart so happy to hear. Thank you 🩷
Claude knows my Myers Brigg type/cognitive profile but I hadn't thought to tell it I was HSP until reading what Dr Lynn had to share - I definitely want to test this as I am so curious if I have already built this in without realising or whether it will add a new layer to the interactions.
This was such a good read. Thank you all for sharing your experiences, as well as actionable steps (instruct your AI to not be rude? sounds so simple yet why didn’t I think of that??) on how to navigate this, frankly, overwhelming new world.
Amanda, hello! Everything about AI can feel overwhelming on some level hey, I totally get that. It was what inspired me to begin a discussion and one I want to return to again in a few months.
I had not thought of that either! I had an interaction with Claude a few days ago where I was reprimanded by the AI in huge lengthy paragraphs, it totally threw me - your comment reminds me that I need to go back and add that as a project instruction!
This was such a fantastic article and I saw myself in basically everyone's responses! Nat I had to laugh at this part in yours: "If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been told to toughen up, have thicker skin, put myself first, or stop being so sensitive, I’d be in a different tax bracket." Ha! Right?! seriously. I think all of us in this article (and HSPs) have been told to 'stop being so sensitive' at some point. And I'm glad AI is there - in it's ways that help us HSPs cope with the world, not in the ways it exacerbates it! :)
So glad you could relate 😜 From such a young age I remember my parents trying to drill that into me too: “Have a stiff upper lip!”
But Caitlin, I remember listening to your podcast on HSP. Which made me feel so seen too. AI has totally helped me cope but reading or listening to other people’s experiences has been so powerful too. Love that Dallas got us togther for this one!
Haha I wished I had written that line too! Natalie nailed the description perfectly. I like to think that being tough and still feeling can co-exist in the same moment.
Thank you so much for saying yes to the idea, Caitlin 🩷 I loved what you had to share and the moment I read your contribution I saw myself immediately!
Dallas you put together such a great collab. I definitely like to think being tough and sensitive can coexist. I actually really enjoy getting older for this very reason! Feel like it’s toughened me up a bit ;)
Even reading this made me feel a bit emotional haha. I loved this conversation, and I honestly don't think i've related to a piece more, especially as someone with ADHD who has always recognised a lot of HSP traits in myself. The constant processing, the emotional intensity, needing time after things to come back to yourself, feeling like the world can be too loud and still being deeply curious about everything in it. AI sits in such a strange place there. Sometimes it helps me slow down enough to hear my own thoughts, and sometimes it can pull me into even more processing when what I actually need is just a moment of silence. Everyone here spoke about that tension with so much honesty. Using the tool, appreciating the tool, but still trying to stay close to yourself while you use it. What a wonderful read :)
Jade, your comment makes my heart so happy. It's a wonderful thing finding a space where people just "get you" and you see yourself. I felt that too with everything that was shared here. What we have in common is such a precious gift.
Adding AI to the mix creates such a strange tension for me and I am really looking forward to exploring it further - Dr Lynn will be writing more on HSPs too!
It really is :) thank you so much for putting this together. Looking forward to learning more through your work <3
Wow, I absolutely love this piece -- it's such an important conversation, and I appreciate how each of you shared your experience as well as your tips. (Hello magnesium!)
I love reading about how other sensitive folks (and maybe some fellow projectors, if you're into human design 😜) navigate the pace of information, when as sensitive beings we're constantly processing, receiving, calibrating and navigating. It's like a massive tidal wave sometimes and I've had to put in my own somatic stopgaps to stay grounded.
Your suggestions were a great reminder of the importance of getting back into our bodies -- with nature, stretching, teas, time -- and how that can help to re-regulate.
It's so easy to keep going faster and faster -- and I literally feel permission to go slower, keep tending to my sensitive being and heart, and experience how both things can co-exist.
Can't wait to read part 2!!!
Cara, your note makes my heart so happy! I’m so very glad it resonated with you (huge fan of magnesium!). I have wanted to create this for a while as it's something I keep circling - wondering how on earth this all works out for our nervous systems and what balance looks like. I loved that everyone shared something different too. I’m so curious about what we have to say in part two as well…!
This is such a beautiful and important conversation. I really love how each of you described AI not just as a tool, but as something that interacts with your nervous system, your creativity, your boundaries, and your sense of self. That feels like such an important layer of the AI conversation, and one we don’t talk about enough.
Also, seeing this group of women in one post made me so happy. These are all women I truly admire and respect in this space, and it felt very special to read your reflections together. Thank you for being so vulnerable and generous with this. 🩷🦩
Aw thanks for this thoughtful comment Pinkie ♡ It was a nice break to talk about these personal uses for AI, and hear about how others use it too. I love how Dallas structured it! And all the respect & admiration goes right back atcha ♡
Aww thanks Pinkie! I think it was so important to share too. We need to keep talking about what it is like interacting with AI and how to do this in a way that allows us all to thrive 🩷
🤗 thanks Pinkie! It is such an important conversation and I found it fascinating too how AI interacts with HSPs!
I am fortunate to be retired and not forced to use AI for work. I’m noticing a sadness at the “fake” I’m experiencing here, even on substack. As someone who is a highly sensitive person, I seek “the real.” I’m choosing to use substack less now because it seems even my favorite authors are using AI more in their writing. Ugh. Call me old or old fashioned, but I want genuine connection.
Genuine connection is what I think we all long for. I find that as I get older, I do think it matters increasingly more to me, or perhaps I tolerate the opposite less?
AI can be a great assistance with the editing process, but we do all hold very different lines with it and I’m sorry that you’ve noticed such a change in the way your favourite authors create connection - that must be very frustrating!
Thanks for responding. It’s not frustrating so much as sad. I don’t have that kind of investment (at my age) in Substack or any social media to be frustrated. 😉 It just saddens me that the art of “the real” (aka heart-felt writing) has become muddled with AI soul-less output simply for the sake of getting likes or subscribers or increasing stats. Just my opinion.
Yes I so want to read more perspectives on this! (And hugs to you Mia! )
I'm so sensitive that honestly, when I saw this post and I realized you haven't invited me to chime in, I really felt attacked and I'm not even kidding 🤣🤣🤣
I LOVE YOU THOUGH, so forgive me ❤️ this is great, feels so close to home, I felt every word of it and I can relate fully.
NOOOOO. Mia, there will be a follow-up to join in on, I am sure of it!! As a fellow INFJ, I would defs have said a high chance you are also HSP - our brains are all pure joy and delight 😆
So glad this meant something to you and you could see yourself it in 🩷🩷
❤️🥰😍
Mia. I had no idea I was HSP until I fully understood what it meant, esp after reading everyone's experiences. Sending hugs 🤗
Yeah, I had NO IDEA this was a thing! Sending hugs back 🥰😍❤️
haha not all us sensitive contributors feeling AWFUL now!!! 😆🥺🫣 Hopefully Dallas puts together another collab one day :) After this, all I want to do is keep reading more perspectives on it, including yours! <3
DALLAS WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??? 🤣😍
We're defs going to do another pass at this for sure!! WE LOVE YOU, MIA!! 🩷🩷
Nawwww 🥹❤️
I love a post that is educational, sensitive, and practical. Kudos to all who contributed!
Thanks so much, JH! I love that it hit all three of those for you 🩷
Dallas, what a gift this conversation is. Sitting in this room with these four writers felt like exactly the right company.
The thread I keep returning to is what Natalie named so precisely: it wasn't that we needed to become less sensitive. We needed to stop abandoning ourselves. That's the work underneath the label, and it's some of the most important work a person can do.
If anyone here wants to go deeper on what this looks like in practice, I work one-on-one and would love to talk.
Honored to be included.
Dr. Lynn / *What Nobody Told You About...*
This conversation was a gift :)
I don’t think Dallas could have structured it any better… her instinct to have your section wrapping it was perfect. Because as much as AI helps, having a real expert with lived-experience just takes it to a brand new level. I learned so much.
I will always think about my energy like a bank account now!
Thank you Natalie. It was an absolute pleasure to contribute here!
Thank you and appreciate you saying yes to this idea so very much, Lynn! I love that each of us took a different angle that contributed perfectly to the whole.
"I needed to stop abandoning myself every time I sensed someone else’s discomfort" is so marvellously stated. So hard in practise!
I look forward to where this conversation goes into the future.
Love how everyone shared their experiences and I feel seen in Dr. Lynn's reflection on emptying the tank and deleting conversations, I have done that :). I also cry at every movie, doesn't matter good or bad, Dallas 🥴.
Working with AI is having choices, not performing, not holding back, just being. Sending hearts to everyone who opened up here, this subject is so important to bring to the light. Thank you Dallas for putting this together! 🩵
Last night I cried watching this new Sally Fields movie about an Octopus on Netflix, and it was so funny coming online and seeing everyone relate/talk about this exact thing!
(My husband leaning over every 5 min to see if i’m “crying yet” lol)
But I love how you put that Anna – working with AI is definitely a choice we didn’t use to have, and its nice to not hold back with it. I love everything about the way Dallas structured this collab!
There should be tissues at the movie theaters for us! 🩵😭
Do you guys get mad at a movie if there is not a happy ending? I saw My Oxford Year on Netflix a few weeks ago... I don't want to spoil the ending but google it first if you haven't watched it!
hahah googling now! 😆
Thank you, Anna, for saying yes too! I love the "empty the tank" framing - I think I need to delete a few conversations as well.
I think you hit on a core issue perfectly - we don't all have to run a million miles an hour with AI, just simply adapt it to what we need, not the other way around.
I finished a book last night and got teary just because it ended and I enjoyed the book 😆
Pls send me the book title, I do want to read it now! 🦋
Creative, Dallas. Bravo. I love stories and interviews. You have some cool friends with interesting stories. Lynn Fraley has some depth to her answers, and I'd like to see her co-author with you, further.
Thanks so much, Georgia! This one was so fun to create with such amazing people who said yes to sharing part of their journey. I'm sure Dr Lynn will pop up again here for sure!
You all are speaking my language! I can relate to much of what was said and have found AI helpful to process my thoughts and feelings like a journal that talks back, like Natalie said. Have each of you included in your personal context for your AI that you are an HSP? If so, how do you feel that changed your interactions?
Ohh love this question Fran! I actually never explicitly told it, but through our conversations it remembered (ChatGPT moreso than Claude… because thats the LLM I used first as my ‘journal’). Chat loves relating everything back to my nervous system! lol
Hey Fran! Your comment made my heart so happy to hear. Thank you 🩷
Claude knows my Myers Brigg type/cognitive profile but I hadn't thought to tell it I was HSP until reading what Dr Lynn had to share - I definitely want to test this as I am so curious if I have already built this in without realising or whether it will add a new layer to the interactions.
This was such a good read. Thank you all for sharing your experiences, as well as actionable steps (instruct your AI to not be rude? sounds so simple yet why didn’t I think of that??) on how to navigate this, frankly, overwhelming new world.
Reading everyone’s actionable steps helped me so much too 🥹
Amanda, hello! Everything about AI can feel overwhelming on some level hey, I totally get that. It was what inspired me to begin a discussion and one I want to return to again in a few months.
I had not thought of that either! I had an interaction with Claude a few days ago where I was reprimanded by the AI in huge lengthy paragraphs, it totally threw me - your comment reminds me that I need to go back and add that as a project instruction!
This was such a fantastic article and I saw myself in basically everyone's responses! Nat I had to laugh at this part in yours: "If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been told to toughen up, have thicker skin, put myself first, or stop being so sensitive, I’d be in a different tax bracket." Ha! Right?! seriously. I think all of us in this article (and HSPs) have been told to 'stop being so sensitive' at some point. And I'm glad AI is there - in it's ways that help us HSPs cope with the world, not in the ways it exacerbates it! :)
So glad you could relate 😜 From such a young age I remember my parents trying to drill that into me too: “Have a stiff upper lip!”
But Caitlin, I remember listening to your podcast on HSP. Which made me feel so seen too. AI has totally helped me cope but reading or listening to other people’s experiences has been so powerful too. Love that Dallas got us togther for this one!
Haha I wished I had written that line too! Natalie nailed the description perfectly. I like to think that being tough and still feeling can co-exist in the same moment.
Thank you so much for saying yes to the idea, Caitlin 🩷 I loved what you had to share and the moment I read your contribution I saw myself immediately!
Dallas you put together such a great collab. I definitely like to think being tough and sensitive can coexist. I actually really enjoy getting older for this very reason! Feel like it’s toughened me up a bit ;)
Appreciate you SO much, Natalie! Thank you for saying yes to my ideas in whatever direction they take 😄🩷🩷
Yes, getting older feels like a HSP gift and learning how to sit back into it and thrive is everything!
You have incredible ideas Dallas I love being a part of them!!