The Post-Holiday Emotional Dip for Highly Sensitive People

For a lot of Highly Sensitive People, the weeks after the holidays feel like stepping off a spinning ride. December has its own soundtrack—social demands, crowded rooms, bright lights, travel, rich food, late nights, and all the emotional layers that come with being around family or noticing who isn’t there anymore. Then the calendar flips and the world gets quiet.

That contrast can be jarring.

The dip you feel in January doesn’t mean anything has gone wrong. It’s simply your nervous system coming back to baseline after running on borrowed momentum. Sensitive brains take in more detail and more emotional information than most. Even when the experiences are joyful, they still create internal stimulation. Your body has been processing nonstop, and once the external structure disappears, the feelings finally have space to speak.

January becomes the landing pad.

Hustle culture tells you to push through it. Your biology asks for something different. The brain wants new beginnings, but the nervous system wants safety before change. When those two aren’t in conversation, the start of the year can feel foggy or heavy, and people mistake integration for inadequacy.

Let’s normalize that instead.

What This Month Is Really About

The post-holiday period is a transition, not a test. Your energy may be lower. You may feel a little tender or reflective. That’s common for anyone wired to experience the world more intensely—and it’s especially true if you’re navigating later-in-life identity shifts like coming out, redefining relationships, or figuring out where you belong now that you finally know who you are.

Clarity usually comes after rest, not before it.

Gentle Ways to Support a Sensitive System

• Allow simple routines to return before reinventing your whole life
• Add more stillness than stimulation in the first few weeks
• Notice and celebrate small momentum—sleep, water, honest pauses, small movement
• Name what your nervous system needs more of, and less of
• Let feelings move through without turning them into permanent stories

Growth in sensitive bodies is often subtle. Quiet progress still counts. The goal is to care for the system you already have rather than shaming yourself into a louder version of healing.

Also—The Podcast Is Back

This season of listening and telling the truth reminded me that I’ve missed having longer, real conversations about this intersection of brain and sensitivity. I’m bringing the podcast back, and the first episode—“Uncomfortable, On Purpose: The Return”—is officially out. In it I share what to expect going forward: honest discussions on the stories we tell ourselves, how the nervous system shapes our choices, and how sensitivity can become a strength instead of something to manage in silence.

Listen to the first episode here!

If you’ve ever wished someone would explain what’s happening inside you in plain, compassionate language, that episode is for you.

You Don’t Have to Judge the Dip

You can land in January without declaring war on yourself. And if you want support while routine and clarity return, I’m offering  January coaching VIP sessions at a special rate focused on nervous-system regulation, grounded reflection, and practical tools that help change actually integrate. LEARN MORE HERE!

Take what serves you. Leave the rest.

Whatever this month feels like, you are not behind and you are not broken. You’re coming down from a lot—and that makes sense.

I really believe this, for you and for everyone I serve: it’s all unfolding perfectly.