Short read: Those feels you’d rather not feel

Lucy Newport • June 5, 2025

Reading time: 2 mins

Originally shared as part of Inbox Reflections - my honest, heartfelt emails to support your binge eating recovery as a highly sensitive woman. 



There’s no point in trying to hide the fact that emotional discomfort is uncomfortable.

Things happen throughout life, big and small, that evoke a whole range of emotions we’d rather not feel. And this is a lot for anyone - especially a Highly Sensitive Person.

Through all of my attempts at avoiding this discomfort - with food, keeping myself busy, scrolling, daydreaming, working, watching shows and everything else - I’ve learnt that;

1. The thought of feeling something tends to be more threatening than actually just feeling it

2. Avoiding discomfort creates more discomfort (my years of binge eating is a perfect example)

3. I’m always surprised how quickly the discomfort subsides when I do feel it 


I know this post may be a little heavier than my usual (eek, sorry! 💗)

But understanding emotional discomfort is so important and something very few of us are taught. And yet this understanding can actually bring with it much more lightness.

It’s not to dismiss any discomfort you feel or to say that it’s just “not that bad” - not at all.

I know that you’re a deep feeler, that you’re easily moved by your experiences and what’s happening in the world.

It’s to say that despite how uncomfortable something may feel, you are capable of feeling it.

Of being with it and allowing it to move through. 


And the more you show yourself that you can feel something without running from it - the more your nervous system learns that you are safe and able to be with what is. 


That’s how we build resilience - not by avoiding hard moments, but by meeting them with openness and self-trust.


So if an emotion you’d usually try to avoid stirs within you today, see if you can breathe into it - just a little.


You don’t have to fix it…

Just give it some space and let that be enough.




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Hungry for more? Here are some extra resources for you

“Is there a connection between binge eating and being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)?”

By Lucy Newport • April 2, 2025
Wondering if binge eating is connected to being a Highly Sensitive Person? This article explores the links between the two and shares an approach to recovery for you.

Short read: HSPs and exercise

By Lucy Newport • March 26, 2025
Reading time: 1 min Originally shared as part of Inbox Reflections - my honest, heartfelt emails to support your binge eating recovery as a highly sensitive woman. Most women in binge eating recovery have a challenging relationship with exercise. And as a Highly Sensitive Person, it’s likely there are extra layers of complexity for you… Maybe you’ve really pushed yourself in the past, exercising in ways that were too intense for you and further disconnected you from your body, all in the name of weight loss. Perhaps you feel guilty that you don’t do certain types of exercise simply because they don’t feel good to you. Or maybe thoughts about how you “should” be exercising stop you from moving your body as much. If so, there’s a recent piece of research into HSPs and their relationships with exercise that you might find insightful… The researchers found from those who took part (students and employees at a university in the USA, mostly female) that HSPs are just as likely to exercise as anyone else, but that they prefer less intense exercise. And that makes absolute sense knowing what we know about HSPs ✨ It’s just one small study, but it totally resonates with me. How about you? If so, I hope knowing this helps you to quieten the “but I should be…” thoughts, and enjoy moving your body the ways you like to!

Short read: Your relationship to receiving

By Lucy Newport • January 13, 2025
Reading time: 1 min Originally shared as part of Inbox Reflections - short, heartfelt emails to support your binge eating recovery as a highly sensitive woman. I have a theory that highly sensitive women who struggle with their relationships with food and their bodies have a hard time receiving. Receiving their sensitivity Receiving their worth Receiving their bodies Receiving nourishment Receiving support Receiving attention Receiving the moment But I also believe that we have the greatest capacity to receive when we know how to and feel safe in doing so. Because being sensitive and receptive go hand in hand. Does this ring true for you? If so, one of the most profound practices for you might be to simply: 1. Receive as you inhale Receiving yourself, the moment and whatever is there for you, even if it’s uncomfortable. 2. Release as you exhale Surrendering and letting it all completely go (this is just as important). This is my core practice right now, and in fact, it has been for some time. There are many times I still find receiving infinitely hard, but this little practice has benefited me in more ways than I could tell you... I hope it serves you as much as it's served me.

Video Q&A: “Why can't I do the things I know I need to do?”

By Lucy Newport • September 3, 2024
Reading / watching time: 13 mins Our question this time comes from Sarah and it’s another that I think will be really relatable to many of you. She asked: “I know the things I need to do to stop binge eating and sometimes I can do them and I feel really good about that. But I just can’t seem to do them most of the time. I want to know how I can get around this because it’s really frustrating me! Thanks for all of your support!” So, here are my thoughts on this…

“What’s the difference between emotional eating and binge eating?”

By Lucy Newport • July 17, 2024
Reading time: 6.5 mins Perhaps you’ve found your way to this page because you’ve noticed that you use food to comfort yourself when emotions like stress, sadness and boredom come up. Maybe you’re feeling like your emotional eating is out of control at times and that just worries you more. And perhaps you’ve heard the term “binge eating” and you’re wondering if that’s in fact what you’re doing. If so, you’re in the right place. In this article, we’ll look at exactly what emotional eating and binge eating are and their main differences. For those of you who resonate with being a highly sensitive person, an empath or someone who just feels things in a big way, we’ll also look at how this sensitivity can play into emotional eating and binge eating. This is all about better understanding your own behaviour so that you can expand your ability to be with uncomfortable emotions, improve your relationships with food and your body and even get the right support for you on this journey, if that’s what you want. Now, take a nice long and full breath and let’s explore…  What is emotional eating?

Video Q&A: “How can I connect to my body?”

By Lucy Newport • April 23, 2024
Reading / watching time: 21 mins This month's Q&A video is around the topic of connection (which is one of my favourites!) and comes from Aga with the question “ I’ve been binge eating for over 20 years and at this point feel like I’m completely disconnected from my body all of the time. How can I start connecting to it?”. In this video, we get into: Understanding the ways you’ve disconnected from your body The underlying reasons for this disconnection The question you can ask yourself in any moment to begin reconnecting Four simple practices to help bring you back into your body




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