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

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 actu...

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...

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....

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 a...

In this episode, Alissa revisits one of the most important distinctions for highly sensitive people: the difference between caring about someone and carrying their experience as your own. Using real examples from clients and her own life, she unpacks why the impulse to manage other people's emotions is actually anxiety disguised as empathy. For HSPs who grew up as the peacekeeper, the fixer, or th...

In this solo episode, Alissa explores one of the most deeply ingrained patterns she sees in highly sensitive people: the belief that having needs makes you a burden. For HSPs, this is a story that gets built early, when your emotional reactions were “too big”, when your needs felt different from everyone else's, and when the people around you responded with frustration instead of understanding. Th...

In this solo episode, Alissa shares a deeply personal update about her daughter's new celiac disease diagnosis and what it revealed about the way life equips you long before you understand why. Years of navigating her own severe digestive issues, strict diets, and the emotional weight of feeling different gave Alissa a toolkit she never expected to need for her child. She connects that thread to t...

Alissa opens up about the very challenging season of life her and her family have recently been thrust into. Her three year old daughter Blaine was suddenly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and navigating it has revealed so much about the power of sensitivity, the discipline of steadiness, and the choice to see growth inside the pain. In this episode: How Alissa's sensitivity helped her catch her d...

This episode is one of the most downloaded episodes of the podcast, and for good reason! Alissa chats with Matt Landsiedel about the pattern so many empaths know but rarely name: feeling overly responsible for everyone else's energy, emotions, and well-being. Together they unpack the deeper reasons HSPs fall into overfunctioning, where empathy ends and codependency begins, and what it looks like t...

This week, Alissa sits down with social anxiety coach and author Claire Eastham to unpack where that fear really comes from and what it takes to stop performing your way through every interaction. Claire shares how years of masking and people-pleasing led to a nervous breakdown, and how embracing the very traits she'd been told were "too much" became the turning point. Together they explore why se...

In this epsidoe, Alissa explores the post-social spiral that so many highly sensitive people get trapped in, and the surprisingly simple tool she uses to stop it in its tracks. Alissa shares two recent experiences of her own, one at a casual social gathering where she felt quieter than usual, and one at a networking event that pushed her way outside her comfort zone. She also pulls from a live coa...

Drawing from a recent coaching conversation inside the Not Too Sensitive Club, Alissa walks through the pattern so many highly sensitive women fall into: outsourcing their sense of self to how others respond to them. When that source gets disrupted (e.g., a boundary gets pushback, a workplace stops reflecting your value) it can feel like an identity crisis. Alissa explores what happens when the ex...

In this solo episode, Alissa explores the difference between people who tell you what you want to hear and the ones who love you enough to tell you the truth. Because validation feels good, but it can also keep you stuck. Alissa makes the case for honest, loving challenge as one of the most underrated forms of care, and reflects on what changes when you finally have people in your corner who won't...

In this solo episode, Alissa unpacks what's actually happening when you measure yourself against someone else, and how to use those moments as information rather than evidence of your own inadequacy. The reflex most of us have when comparison hits is either self-diminishment or quiet resentment. What Alissa offers instead is a way to get curious. Alissa shares personal examples and client stories...

In this solo episode, Alissa takes an honest look at why validating your feelings too much can be a problem. Your feelings can be completely valid and still not be an excuse to stay stuck. Alissa shares examples from her own life like the overstimulation of motherhood, the chaos of a busy household, the moments where snapping feels like the only option; and gets real about what it actually looks l...

In this episode, Alissa is joined by poet and author Bri, whose work speaks directly to the experience of being deeply sensitive in a world that often doesn’t understand it. They talk about what it actually feels like to grow up highly sensitive, and how that shapes your identity, your relationships, and your sense of belonging. Bri shares her experience navigating intense emotions from a young ag...

In this episode, Alissa explores how highly sensitive people can keep their “channel clear” so they can access their intuition, creativity, and natural gifts. While sensitivity comes with powerful strengths—like empathy, intuition, and emotional intelligence—many HSPs feel disconnected from those gifts because their inner channel is cluttered by outside noise, old conditioning, and self-doubt. Ali...

In this episode, Alissa sits down with therapist and author April Snow to talk about writing books, being seen as a highly sensitive person, and building resilience in a world that isn’t always HSP-friendly. They share what it’s really like to write a full-length book (including the vulnerability of putting your words on a printed page), how confidence is built through discomfort, and why highly s...

In this solo episode, Alissa dives into a core pillar of her work: expanding your tolerance for discomfort as a highly sensitive person. She shares how she is navigating an intense season of motherhood with little sleep and full emotional capacity, while also watching clients move through their own challenging chapters. She explores what it actually takes for sensitive people to build resilience a...

In this episode, Alissa sits down with her longtime Instagram friend Bailey for a deep and honest conversation about creativity, self-worth, friendship dynamics, and what it really means to be an empowered highly sensitive person. Bailey shares her journey of feeling like an outsider growing up, watering herself down to fit in, and eventually finding her voice through poetry. This episode is a pow...

In this episode, Alissa sits down with writer and speaker Case Kenny for a conversation about self-expression, confidence, and what it really means to stop shrinking yourself. They explore why embracing your “cringe,” intensity, and nonconforming traits is actually magnetic, and why the fear of being judged keeps so many Highly Sensitive People playing small. The conversation expands into relation...

Season 2.0 of the Not Too Sensitive Podcast is officially here, and Alissa is back after a much-needed break with a renewed vision for the show. In this episode, Alissa shares what shifted during her time away. Then from there, the conversation turns to one of the most common (and painful) patterns Highly Sensitive People experience in relationships: betraying themselves in order to keep the peace...

As 2025 comes to a close, Alissa shares a reflective and personal episode about endings, rebirth, and learning how to live in true alignment, especially as a Highly Sensitive Person. This year held profound milestones and massive shifts: signing a book deal, welcoming a new baby after pregnancy loss, navigating postpartum life while writing a book, and feeling the internal pull to realign how she...

In this episode, Alissa gets real about one of the biggest struggles Highly Sensitive People face: the constant overthinking, analyzing, and self-editing that comes from worrying what others might be thinking. She breaks down how this pattern can quietly run your life—influencing your choices, your boundaries, your energy, and even your self-worth— and why learning to unhook from other people’s pe...

This week’s episode is a gentle reminder for all of us: you’re doing more than you realize, and it’s okay to acknowledge it. 💛 Alissa dives into a practice that she often share with her 1:1 clients and in the Not Too Sensitive Club. The practice is all about zooming out on yourself to witness all that you’re holding and doing. This is especially helpful during busy seasons (hello, holidays!) when...