Not Too Sensitive - Empowering Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) To Own Their Sensitivity

In this solo episode, Alissa names the exhaustion of shape shifting to fit an imagined mold of what's acceptable, and offers the alternative: deciding, every day, who you are and how you want to show up.
Sparked by comments on a viral Instagram post about owning being "too much," Alissa calls out the excuse that other's won't let you be your true self. She's not buying the narrative that other people's discomfort is proof something is wrong with you.
Pulling from her own story and pattern she keeps hearing from women in the Not Too Sensitive Club, she shares ways you can take back your power and decide who you are going to be.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why trying to fit into everyone's idea of acceptable costs you pieces of yourself
The real difference between wanting connection and needing everyone's approval
What moving to California from Minnesota taught Alissa about owning her differences instead of hiding them
Why overthinking after a social interaction is your nervous system reading it as a threat to belonging, not a character flaw
How self-worth changes the entire experience of imperfect social moments
Why healing your triggers matters as much as understanding where they came from

Uncover your sneaky internal belief that’s stopping you from being your most confident self TAKE The FREE Shadow Archetype Quiz NOW
Learn my 6-step process for managing & neutralizing your triggers as an HSP in our FREE UN-Botherable Workshop!
Join the Not Too Sensitive Club 🦋 My group coaching container for highly sensitive women where self-doubt becomes certainty, second-guessing turns into self-trust, and overthinking transforms into rock-solid intuition. CLICK HERE to learn more!
Follow Alissa on Substack: https://substack.com/@lifebyalissa
As a special bonus, I want to give you FREE access to my workshop for HSPs called Not "Too Sensitive" (usually $35)!
All you have to do is:
Leave a written review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts
Email a screenshot of your review to hello@lifebyalissa.com

That's it! 😊
🦋🦋🦋
Follow along on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@lifebyalissa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Alissa recently shared a post that said "please be too much," and it went viral, reaching over 2 million people after nearly two years of feeling like her work wasn't getting seen. But this episode isn't really about going viral. It's about what happened in those two quiet years before it, and why the willingness to show up anyway, even when you feel embarrassed, judged, or invisible, is what actually builds confidence and self-trust.
For sensitive people, the fear of being seen trying runs deep. Alissa offers two words that changed her life: so what?
She shares the stories behind it, from being mocked by people she went to high school with, to an email that hit her most painful insecurity square in the chest, to the six years of unseen work that led to her book deal with Penguin Random House. You don't wait until you feel healed and confident to start. You start, and that's what makes you confident.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why "so what?" are two of the most freeing words when you're afraid of being judged
What showing up without applause does for your identity and self-trust over time
Why waiting until you feel fully healed to take action is actually fear and control in disguise
How saying you want something but never acting on it quietly erodes your trust in yourself
What it looks like to treat triggers as stepping stones instead of stop signs
The difference between responding from your sensitive shadow archetype and your sensitive strength archetype

Uncover your sneaky internal belief that’s stopping you from being your most confident self TAKE The FREE Shadow Archetype Quiz NOW
Learn my 6-step process for managing & neutralizing your triggers as an HSP in our FREE UN-Botherable Workshop!
Join the Not Too Sensitive Club 🦋 My group coaching container for highly sensitive women where self-doubt becomes certainty, second-guessing turns into self-trust, and overthinking transforms into rock-solid intuition. CLICK HERE to learn more!
Follow Alissa on Substack: https://substack.com/@lifebyalissa
As a special bonus, I want to give you FREE access to my workshop for HSPs called Not "Too Sensitive" (usually $35)!
All you have to do is:
Leave a written review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts
Email a screenshot of your review to hello@lifebyalissa.com

That's it! 😊
🦋🦋🦋
Follow along on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@lifebyalissa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

In this solo episode, Alissa shares the duality she's been living inside, where heartbreak over a forever diagnosis sits right next to genuine blessing, and offers a way to honor every feeling without letting those feelings run the show.
Through real moments from her own week, the 7am overwhelm she interrupted with gratitude, the choked up drive home from the doctor, the surprise of a new car the same afternoon, she gets honest about what it really means to be steady. Being unbothered was never about feeling less. It's about feeling all of it and still choosing how you move forward.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why holding duality, the joy and the grief together, is one of the most important skills for a sensitive person
What it means to honor your feelings without letting your feelings make every decision
How a quick gratitude rampage can pull you out of a morning spiral
How to catch the moments you slip into "why is this happening to me" and choose a higher perspective instead
The difference between pushing past a hard feeling and actually moving through it

Uncover your sneaky internal belief that’s stopping you from being your most confident self TAKE The FREE Shadow Archetype Quiz NOW
Learn my 6-step process for managing & neutralizing your triggers as an HSP in our FREE UN-Botherable Workshop!
Join the Not Too Sensitive Club 🦋 My group coaching container for highly sensitive women where self-doubt becomes certainty, second-guessing turns into self-trust, and overthinking transforms into rock-solid intuition. CLICK HERE to learn more!
Follow Alissa on Substack: https://substack.com/@lifebyalissa
As a special bonus, I want to give you FREE access to my workshop for HSPs called Not "Too Sensitive" (usually $35)!
All you have to do is:
Leave a written review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts
Email a screenshot of your review to hello@lifebyalissa.com

That's it! 😊
🦋🦋🦋
Follow along on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@lifebyalissa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Being seen means being judged. In this episode, Alissa lays out why that's not a reason to stay small, and what it actually takes to let other people have an opinion of you without losing yourself in it.
For HSPs, this isn't just a confidence issue. It's energetic. You feel it when someone misreads you, when a comment lands sideways, when the room shifts after you share something you're proud of. The instinct is to pull back, smooth it over, or shrink to keep the peace.
Alissa pulls from her own experience, including a pointed DM from a stranger who made it clear she wasn't a fan, and from a client who just hit a major life milestone and immediately felt the weight of other people's reactions.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why being judged is actually a sign you're doing something that matters
The "zoomed out lens": how to observe someone's reaction without taking it on as your own
What it really means to allow someone the dignity of their own experience, including their jealousy or discomfort with your success
Practical energy-clearing techniques for releasing what doesn't belong to you
Why dimming yourself to protect other people's feelings costs you more than it saves them

Uncover your sneaky internal belief that’s stopping you from being your most confident self TAKE The FREE Shadow Archetype Quiz NOW
Learn my 6-step process for managing & neutralizing your triggers as an HSP in our FREE UN-Botherable Workshop!
Join the Not Too Sensitive Club 🦋 My group coaching container for highly sensitive women where self-doubt becomes certainty, second-guessing turns into self-trust, and overthinking transforms into rock-solid intuition. CLICK HERE to learn more!
Follow Alissa on Substack: https://substack.com/@lifebyalissa
As a special bonus, I want to give you FREE access to my workshop for HSPs called Not "Too Sensitive" (usually $35)!
All you have to do is:
Leave a written review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts
Email a screenshot of your review to hello@lifebyalissa.com

That's it! 😊
🦋🦋🦋
Follow along on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@lifebyalissa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

For HSPs navigating a world that wasn't built for them, the default can become: everything is hard, no one understands, and discomfort is a signal to retreat.
In this solo episode, Alissa challenges that frame directly. She shares how her life experience has shaped her view of challenges.
So even with the newest challenge life is giving her, to raise her daughter Blaine through a Type 1 diabetes and celiac diagnosis, she knows this discomfort is not something to escape but the exact thing that is building her confidence that she can handle the life she wants.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why expanding your tolerance for discomfort is the foundation of feeling steady and unbothered in your daily life
How resilience shows up as curiosity about what a triggering moment is pointing to
The cost of living as the "effect" of everything around you
Why being an open-hearted, sensitive person in a non-sensitive world is something to own, not apologize for
How every trigger and insecurity that surfaces is an invitation to strengthen something within yourself

Uncover your sneaky internal belief that’s stopping you from being your most confident self TAKE The FREE Shadow Archetype Quiz NOW
Learn my 6-step process for managing & neutralizing your triggers as an HSP in our FREE UN-Botherable Workshop!
Join the Not Too Sensitive Club 🦋 My group coaching container for highly sensitive women where self-doubt becomes certainty, second-guessing turns into self-trust, and overthinking transforms into rock-solid intuition. CLICK HERE to learn more!
Follow Alissa on Substack: https://substack.com/@lifebyalissa
As a special bonus, I want to give you FREE access to my workshop for HSPs called Not "Too Sensitive" (usually $35)!
All you have to do is:
Leave a written review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts
Email a screenshot of your review to hello@lifebyalissa.com

That's it! 😊
🦋🦋🦋
Follow along on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@lifebyalissa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠