May 1, 2024 • 26 mins
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In this episode of Sensitive Success, I talk to Cam Nichols about embracing sensitivity and being a force of nature. We discuss emotions, authenticity, mindset, and connective relationships for sensitive individuals.
Cam shares his journey as a highly sensitive person and offers a free quiz to help identify your primary element. Join us for a powerful conversation on navigating the world as a sensitive changemaker.
Chapters
00:00 - Intro
02:41 - Cam's Life Journey
04:54 - Why Do We Need to Celebrate Sensitivity?
06:56 - What Is the Force of Nature?
09:20 - What Are the HSP Elemental Energies?
17:13 - Four Effective Questions to Ask to Get Started
21:18 - Cam's FREE Element Quiz
23:28 - Cam's Final Message
26:20 - Outro
Cam's Free Elemental Quiz: click here
Know more about Cam's work at:
https://coachwithcam.com
Connect on his social media account:
Instagram: @coachwithcam
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Frida Kabo (00:00):
Hi, it's Frida Kabo.
I've had some greatconversations with
awesome people, and Ithought why keep the
conversations in the archive.
I want to share them with you.
So here is one of theconversations from the
Sensitive Success Summit.
Enjoy.
Welcome to the SensitiveSuccess Podcast, where we
(00:20):
explore the unique challengesand opportunities that
comes with being a sensitivechangemaker in today's world.
I'm your host, Frida Kabo,and I have spent the last
decade recreating my life.
I moved from Sweden to NewZealand and now live in the
beautiful bush with my husbandand two kids, homeschooling and
creating a life and businessthat works for me with the
help of my sensitivity andsupport others to do the same.
(00:44):
I'm excited to shareconversations with experts,
thought leaders, and fellowsensitive people who also
see the world throughthe lens of sensitivity.
Thank you so much for beinghere, because it means that
you're creating sensitivesuccess too, which is
precisely what the world needs.
Let's get started.
(01:04):
One thing that I'mpassionate about is helping
sensitives to be more you.
So, in this conversation,we're talking to Cam Nichols
about how we can be moreof the force of nature.
Cam is a compassionate guide andempowerment coach for sensitive
souls, devoted to helping youfind your voice so you can
stop hiding and start living.
Certified as a life coach,his academic and professional
(01:27):
voyage through psychology,leadership, training, business,
and organizational cultureshape the foundations of
Cam's transformative work.
Cam is a paradoxicalforce of nature, shy yet
dramatic, soulful yet sassy,emotional yet empowered.
And Cam's mission is toextend this empowerment to
(01:48):
those who felt broken orisolated by a world that
sometimes feels too harsh.
His vision is clear.
Sensitive individuals, empoweredfrom within, shaping a kinder
and more sustainable world.
that foster a broader paradigmof living, being, and thriving.
I love, love, love that.
Welcome, Cam.
Cam Nichols (02:09):
Thank you for having me.
I know I'm like, tearing upalmost hearing it, which is
not a reaction I expected.
But it just, it, hearingthat being read is just
like, it's such a goodreminder of progress.
I didn't always view myselfthat way, and so hearing it
is, yeah, I just get emotional.
(02:30):
I'm all about emotions, soit makes sense, I guess.
Frida Kabo (02:33):
Yeah, yeah, I love that.
Beautiful.
Yeah, so tell us a bit moreabout your journey and how
you came to this point.
Cam Nichols (02:41):
Yeah, so I first learned about sensitivity,
Say, like I was back in likemid 2000s, I think I was still
in high school and like, it'skind of appeared in my life
every so often, I got all, Ihear about it and I'm like,
Oh my gosh, that resonates.
Like that's totally who I am.
And then life goes on andI kind of forget about it
(03:03):
and then it pops up again.
And in my work life,when I switched from
corporate America over to.
coaching.
I was really focused on likehelping introverts, like
specifically shy introvertsbecause I'm a shy introvert
myself and it has its ownseparate challenges of life.
(03:24):
Then I started to learn morelike HSP, highly sensitive,
started to pop back up in theresearch and just the stuff that
I was reading and listening toand I was like, this speaks more
to what is happening becauselike not all highly sensitive
people are introverts, but alarge majority of them are.
(03:45):
Right.
And so the things just kindof married together, but I,
I've always just felt veryemotional and dramatic and,
uh, intuition has alwaysplayed a big role in my life.
So when I learn about HSPsand the deep feeling and
the deep thinking, and Thenatural intuition that we
have to kind of see theworld differently, those kind
(04:11):
of things all kind of cametogether and I was just like,
how can I not talk about this?
Like, in truly what I'mdoing, like in my own healing
journey, with like depression,anxiety, and suicidality,
and trauma, and just healingfrom that after emotionally
shutting down, it made somuch sense of, oh, that's
why I emotionally shut down.
(04:31):
That's why I emotionallyshut down was because
I was so sensitive andI didn't understand it.
It was kind of likea messy explanation.
Frida Kabo (04:42):
This is perfect.
Perfect.
Yeah.
So yeah, this is theSensitive Success Summary.
So why do you feel it'simportant to go together and
celebrate sensitivity like this?
Cam Nichols (04:54):
I think understanding our sensitivity
is, it's imperative inorder for us to live
harmoniously in the world.
So I think that we as highlysensitive people, we have These
gifts and these superpowersthat allow us to navigate the
(05:16):
world differently and be anexample to other people in how
to live differently, becauseI think a lot of the world,
as things are shifting, that'skind of what we're seeing is
like the sensitivity of life.
That richness has kind ofbeen sucked out, and it's
the same with us, right?
(05:36):
Like, we try to fit into thismold, doesn't quite work, and we
end up feeling like really blandand really gray and drained.
And so, us being able to cometogether as sensitive people,
And be in community, it'salmost like a concentrated
power source, I guess, forlack of a better phrase, it's
(05:57):
just like, when we all cometogether, we just radiate
in such a powerful way.
And it's almost, it can't bedenied when we embrace more
of who we are as sensitivepeople, I mean, similar to
your story and my story, right?
It's like.
We learn and wecan't help but share.
(06:19):
And so coming together,I love that you put this
summit together for usto create community and
find each other and.
learn from each other,because it's, it's just such
a potent force when we do.
And with a lot of us beingintrovert, it's kind of
like, unite from our housesindividually from home.
Frida Kabo (06:42):
Exactly.
It's perfect.
Love that.
But yeah, I'm so gladthat you're here and
celebrating with us.
And so you, you talk aboutbeing a force of nature, tell
us a bit more about that.
Cam Nichols (06:56):
I've always sought balance in my life.
And for the longest time Iwas never good at it, but
because I've always been drawnto, like, magic and witchy
things and, and nature isa big part of that both in,
like, the real world and theimaginary fictitious world
of like, which is in magic.
(07:17):
And so I've learned a lotabout the elements and
there's lots of different,I don't think Pantheon is
the right word, but a lot ofdifferent belief systems and
like what elements are likethe main elements, right.
But most of them have earth,air, water, fire, and spirit.
And when I see all ofthose combined and I see
(07:38):
those different aspectsradiated in individuals.
Like different characteristicsof each element, like sensitives
or emotional associatedwith water element fire.
We're passionate and it won'tgo through every element.
But when we embrace thoseelements and we learn
(07:59):
to use them and acceptthose pieces of ourselves.
That sometimes we don't alwayslike because I think that's
the beauty of nature, right?
It truly is a balance.
We can be as beautiful aslike the ebb and flow of
the ocean, but we can alsobe really emotional and
destructive as a hurricane.
(08:21):
And so learning how toembrace those things and not
judge the hurricane when weare in that type of energy.
And learn how to embrace it andlearn from it and harness it.
I think that's kind ofthat potent force that
I'm talking about, right?
There's just this level of.
intuitive knowing andunderstanding of nature and
(08:43):
the world and how it works andhow it can work and what the
potential is to me that's beingthe force of nature is embracing
all of it, because then whenwe embrace it, we can use it.
We just have to stopjudging it first in order
to actually embrace it.
Frida Kabo (09:00):
I love that.
Yeah, and I think that a lotof those who are watching
this can relate to ourstories where we try to do
what everyone else does.
We saw around us and then westarted coming into to ourselves
and maybe have struggledwith depression and anxiety
as well How do you see that?
We can start workingwith our force of nature.
Cam Nichols (09:25):
So when I think about How to
start working with it?
Like, I have aquiz on my website.
It's the HSP ElementalEnergy type quiz.
And you basically takethis quiz, and it tells you
what's your primary element.
And then it walks youthrough what that looks like
when you're aligned versusunaligned, and how to, how
(09:45):
to switch, and kind of, youknow, get into more alignment.
And as I created that and thepeople that I've coached, I've
actually noticed like thereare four main areas that we
as sensitive people need tounderstand and find balance
in, in order to really thrive.
To really becomethat force of nature.
(10:07):
And I've not associatedthem with the elements yet.
But, maybe that'ssomething down the line.
But it's like, we need tounderstand our emotions.
Like, emotional regulationand emotional resilience.
Like, our emotions.
Like, understandingwhere our emotions are.
Come from how we generatethem, how they're created.
(10:27):
That's what allows us to kindof step into this confident
place and not judge thembecause how often are we told
like, oh, you're so emotional.
Oh, you're crying.
That makes me uncomfortable.
People don't say that,but let's be honest.
We can feel that energy.
Frida Kabo (10:43):
Yeah.
Cam Nichols (10:44):
Right.
And it's like, no, likethis is, yeah, I cry.
I cry all the time.
Cause I, I feel, I see thingsthat you know, don't necessarily
do or perceive or whatever.
So I think that's one ofthe big things is really
understanding our emotions.
I was going to say, do youwant me to talk about the
Frida Kabo (11:04):
other four?
Yeah,
Cam Nichols (11:07):
because yeah, the, uh, the other one is
authenticity alignment, right?
Truly.
When we stop judging ouremotions, we can really
then start to examine thethings that make us, us.
What are our values?
What are our strengths?
What does it mean toauthentically be us and
(11:27):
show up as ourselves?
Because so much of whatwe've learned and what's
similar in our stories, andI'm sure is similar with a
lot of the viewers, is we'regiven these roles in life.
I call it in whatI'm talking about.
I often call it socialconditioning, right?
(11:48):
We just we're taughthow to be a certain way.
We're taught how to think acertain way, and it starts
before we're even born, right?
I mean, we can go intogenerational stuff, but, like,
think about a child in the womb.
You have certain milestonesthat you are expected to hit.
Otherwise, somethingis wrong, right?
(12:08):
Then you're born.
And then those milestonemilestones begin.
Then you go into theeducation system.
And there's those milestones,and this is what good looks
like, this is how you'resupposed to behave, this is how
you're supposed to think, right?
Then you go, you graduate fromschool, and you go into the
workforce, and your boss isthere to tell you, this is what
(12:31):
good looks like, this is howyou should function, this is,
this is what, how you need tostart thinking about things.
And it's like we take so muchof that on just because of our
highly sensitive nature, right?
That deep feeling, the deepthinking, the deep processing.
We take those roles on, andthat way of being, and then
it's like one day we wake up andwe're like, how did we get here?
(12:54):
What happened?
This isn't who I am.
I don't wear suits every day.
I wear scarves.
What's going on?
And so please forgot whereI was going with that.
Like, just the idea of liketruly being able to detangle
ourselves from who we'retaught we are supposed to be.
(13:14):
That alone is just magical.
And that's, I think that'sanother thing is like,
we're all so different.
And before we hit record,we were talking about how
much we love diversity.
Right?
In the world.
We're in differentparts of the world.
We live in differentparts of the world.
And it's because wecan appreciate it.
We can recognize thatdiversity isn't a threat.
(13:35):
It's something to be cherished.
And that comesfrom authenticity.
I could probably talk about thatfor like another four hours.
That's
Frida Kabo (13:45):
what I'm really
Cam Nichols (13:45):
passionate about.
Frida Kabo (13:48):
It's beautiful.
I love it.
But yeah, let'smove on to the next
Cam Nichols (13:51):
one.
Yeah.
So then the third pieceis the mindset, right?
I think like depression,anxiety, and just the negative
self talk that we kind ofgain from other people, right?
And that we kind of takeon as our own identity.
Understanding that mindsetand learning how that mindset
works is, that's a skillin and of itself, right?
(14:14):
Uncovering who you are, learninghow to deal with your emotions
is a skill, really cominginto who you are is a skill,
managing your mind is a skill,and when you can do it, nothing,
nothing can stand in your way.
You can create change, youcan, whether that's like change
on like a global scale orwhether that's just like in
(14:35):
your day to day, I'm going towake up and I'm going to do
this because it feels good.
I love myself, so therefore I'mgoing to have a salad today,
or I love myself and I'm goingto forgo the salad, I'm going
to have a brownie instead.
It's like there's, there's nojudgment, but it's, it's truly
owning that mindset and thosestories that we tell ourselves
(14:57):
about ourselves, other peopleand the rest of the world.
And the fourth one is connectiveand supportive relationships.
So again, I've kind of talkedabout like being an introvert.
And the pandemic reallykind of, even though like
introverts, like we kind ofcelebrated, we're like, Oh,
I don't want to see anybody.
(15:17):
How amazing.
Oh, I can't like wewere in lockdown.
Sorry, but I love you.
Right?
Like we got to experience that.
But even still, it kind of putus into social atrophy, like
some of our social skills.
They've languished a littlebit and this is part of
(15:37):
why I love what you'redoing with the summit and
just your work, right?
And just creating this communityis because we as humans, we
are meant to have community.
We are meant to connect likeit's highly sensitive people.
Maybe we don'tnecessarily connect in.
large groups or large partiesand like we might be more
selective in how we connect,but connection is important.
(16:00):
And so learning how to setboundaries, learning how
to communicate with otherpeople, communicate our likes,
communicate what we don't like.
There's also this idea thatI teach with my clients is
like this idea of belonging.
Oftentimes we believethat belonging is what
other people offer to us.
(16:20):
I teach it backwards.
We are the ones whooffer belonging.
To everyone else.
So learning how to invite peopleinto our world rather than feel
like we need to go out and tryto fit into someone else's.
Frida Kabo (16:33):
Man, love that.
Yeah.
Cam Nichols (16:35):
So it's like, yeah, understanding the
emotions, your alignment intoauthenticity, your mindset, and
then connective relationships.
Those are like the four mainareas that it's like, if
you, if you want to thriveand feel whole, fulfilled,
that's kind of what I'venarrowed it down to after
coaching hundreds of people.
(16:57):
And.
My own journey and a little bit.
Frida Kabo (17:02):
Yeah, I love that.
And yeah, definitely agree.
So important.
And if someone is listeningto this and agree as well
and feel like they want todo all this, where do you
recommend them to start?
Because it's a lot.
Cam Nichols (17:13):
It is a lot.
I know.
I was like, do Ishare all of this?
It is a lot.
So I've.
So out of those, the foursections, I've kind of
come up with a question.
So I want to givethese four questions.
And this is where I'd recommendyou start, whether you journal,
whether you just think about it.
Start with these fourquestions and just see
what comes up for you.
(17:34):
So number one is what isthe worst possible emotion
you could experience?
And why for me, I thoughtit was one thing, but I
uncovered several years ago.
I'm like, Disappointment.
That's the worst becauseI felt it over and over
and over again in my life.
And I was just like,I, I completely avoided
(17:56):
everything because I wantedto avoid disappointment.
What is the worst possibleemotion you could experience?
And why?
Because emotions.
Even the ones we viewnegative are not, they're
not there to harm us, right?
They're just information.
So the second question is,what is my biggest weakness?
And how is itactually a strength?
(18:18):
What's the positive intentionbehind me having this weakness?
And again, this kind of playsinto that, that we have, we have
these judgments about ourselves.
So like an example of thiswould be procrastination.
Oh, I'm a huge procrastinator.
Why do you thinkyou procrastinate?
What's the positive intentionunderneath procrastinating?
(18:42):
Oh, it's because I'mdoing things I don't
really want to do.
Right?
So it's really interestingto see like, okay,
what's your weakness?
And how is itactually a strength?
Procrastination is like,oh, it's telling me where
I want to actually placemy energy and what I want
to create and contribute.
Third question is where orfrom whom does my negative self
(19:04):
talk originate or come from?
So this kind of goesinto that social
conditioning aspect, right?
It's like, is this somethingthat I actually believe?
Or is this somethingI kind of took on from
someone or from somewhere?
Because once you haveawareness, then you can
choose to do differently.
You can choose tothink differently.
You can choose to adopta different perspective.
(19:26):
And as I said, that like oneof your recent posts actually
totally just came to my mind.
I wish I could rememberwhich one, but I think
it was like three steps.
And the second one, secondstep was like, choose.
This helps you do that.
That question.
And then the fourth questionis, how do I want to bring
people into my world?
So understand whatyour world is, right?
(19:48):
But just like, yeah.
How do I want tobring people in?
I want to, do I like books?
Do I like watching?
Like I'm a huge, Ilove watching TV.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I used to make that thinkthat I was like super lazy and
uninteresting and, but it'slike, no, it's how I get my
recoup time, like how I rechargemyself, but it's also what I
(20:11):
love to talk to people about.
So how do I wantto bring people in?
Oh my gosh, did you see thatepisode of Schitt's Creek?
Like, ew, David.
Right.
So it's just like, how doyou want to bring people
and you want to shareyour world with them?
Frida Kabo (20:27):
Hmm.
I love that.
That is so powerful.
So powerful question.
And yeah, I really encourageeveryone to dig into them in
the way that you do your way.
If it's generally not justwondering about them or.
Yeah.
Talking to them.
The friend or whatever.
You
Cam Nichols (20:46):
just see what comes up when you ask yourself
them, is it an emotion?
Is it an image?
Is it a sound?
Is it a memory?
Because all like, it doesn'tmatter how you go about
it, but just know whenyou notice what comes up.
There's so much informationthat can be gleaned just
from that awareness.
Frida Kabo (21:05):
And you also talked about the different, our
different forces of nature ashighly sensitive and you have
a free quiz as well for this.
Yeah.
Can you tell us a bitmore about that quiz?
Yeah.
Cam Nichols (21:18):
Yeah.
Frida Kabo (21:19):
Yeah.
The
Cam Nichols (21:21):
quiz.
I'm really proud of it.
I love it.
Like it's, it's very muchlike intuition based in how
I created it and just theknowledge that I have of the
elements and their symbology.
Is that a word?
Symbolism.
But like when you take it,you discover kind of which
(21:41):
elements You, this is likeyour primary element, I guess,
earth, air, fire, water, spirit.
And there's an ebook thatI emailed afterwards.
So it's like, you have your, youget your detailed explanation,
but then you also get toread the other elements too.
And it helps you kind ofunderstand what is your
natural intuition, like howdoes it, how can it manifest?
(22:04):
How can you keep an eye outfor it and fine tune it?
It talks about what aresome common emotions
and characteristics whenyou're in alignment.
Um, when you're like,so like Earth is, is an
example, is, uh, has a reallystrong, grounded energy.
It's a leadershipenergy and so yeah.
(22:27):
When you're aligned, you feelreally grounded and connected,
right, and compassionate.
When you're not aligned,you do not feel grounded.
You like.
You want to kind of hideand seclude yourself.
So it kind of goesinto more of that.
And then it's like, okay,if you need help getting out
and like getting out of theunalignment back into alignment,
(22:51):
here's some things to try.
It's very detailed.
Like the ebook in and of itselfis like, it's over 40 pages.
So like there's a lot ofreally good information in
there to just help understandyourself in a different
way than maybe you have.
Frida Kabo (23:10):
That's great.
Yeah, we'll put the linkhere, go over and do it.
And if you want to, you can letus know what your element is.
I will definitely goand do it as well.
It looks really interesting.
So is there anything else thatyou would like to say to, to the
sensitives that are listening?
I know there's so muchmore we could talk about.
Cam Nichols (23:28):
I know.
I didn't realize itwas so long winded.
I guess that's what happenswhen you're passionate about
what you're talking about.
Frida Kabo (23:33):
Yeah.
Cam Nichols (23:35):
I think that the thing that I would leave you
with is We often think thatour emotions will overwhelm us
and like if we really give intothem and we really dive into
them, especially the negativeones, despair, grief, anxiety,
depression, there's this fearthat we will get stuck and
(23:58):
that we'll just stay there.
And what I want to offer is thatyou won't stay there because
that's not how nature works.
That's not how emotions workand, and again, being able to
dive in and it's okay to beafraid that you're going to
get stuck and just continueto remind yourself of like,
(24:19):
no, there's information inthis and I, this will cycle
out, but not being afraid ofthat deep emotional energy
because a lot of the clientsthat I work with are people
who feel like they haveemotionally numbed themselves
or emotionally shut down.
And so I work a lot with them onremoving judgment from emotion.
(24:42):
And a lot of it's just, it's,it's fear based in this aspect.
So it's like emotions,aren't things to run from.
They can actually vary healing.
And when you just releaseda podcast episode about this
as well, about increasingemotional capacity, when you're
willing to feel terrible, youalso open yourself up to feel
(25:03):
amazing, incredible things.
And I'm constantlysurprised as I increase
that emotional capacity, howmy life changes when I do.
And it's a surprise every time,
Frida Kabo (25:17):
in the best way.
Yeah.
Yeah, I kind of get thepicture of a waterfall when
you're talking, like, if wetry to put it down on top,
it's going to seep out.
But if we dare to just letit go, it can flow and you
don't have to hold it all in.
You can just let it go.
It's nature.
Cam Nichols (25:37):
Yeah.
It creates rainbowsand it's refreshing and
it's just beautiful.
Frida Kabo (25:40):
Beautiful.
Love it.
Wonderful.
Thank you so, so much forsharing all your wisdom with us.
As I said, there's so much morewe could talk about, but thank
you for, for this conversation.
I really appreciate it.
And I think those who arewatching this did as well.
And yeah, thank you forthe work that you do
in the world as well.
It's so important.
Cam Nichols (26:00):
Same.
Thank you for, for bringingme into this, allowing
me to be part of it, andI, and just creating the
community that you are.
I feel very grateful,and Excited.
Frida Kabo (26:14):
Thank you.
Yeah.
So glad you're here.
Thank you.
Thank you for listeningto Sensitive Success.
If you enjoyed this episode,please leave a review and
share it with someone who couldbenefit from this message.
And come over and connect withme on Instagram at Frida Kabo.
And remember, sensitivityis neither good or bad.
(26:34):
It's what we make of it.
Embrace your sensitivityand use it to create
sensitive success your way.
Hi, it's Frida Kabo.
I've had some greatconversations with
awesome people, and Ithought why keep the
conversations in the archive.
I want to share them with you.
So here is one of theconversations from the
Sensitive Success Summit.
Enjoy.
Welcome to the SensitiveSuccess Podcast, where we
(00:20):
explore the unique challengesand opportunities that
comes with being a sensitivechangemaker in today's world.
I'm your host, Frida Kabo,and I have spent the last
decade recreating my life.
I moved from Sweden to NewZealand and now live in the
beautiful bush with my husbandand two kids, homeschooling and
creating a life and businessthat works for me with the
help of my sensitivity andsupport others to do the same.
(00:44):
I'm excited to shareconversations with experts,
thought leaders, and fellowsensitive people who also
see the world throughthe lens of sensitivity.
Thank you so much for beinghere, because it means that
you're creating sensitivesuccess too, which is
precisely what the world needs.
Let's get started.
(01:04):
One thing that I'mpassionate about is helping
sensitives to be more you.
So, in this conversation,we're talking to Cam Nichols
about how we can be moreof the force of nature.
Cam is a compassionate guide andempowerment coach for sensitive
souls, devoted to helping youfind your voice so you can
stop hiding and start living.
Certified as a life coach,his academic and professional
(01:27):
voyage through psychology,leadership, training, business,
and organizational cultureshape the foundations of
Cam's transformative work.
Cam is a paradoxicalforce of nature, shy yet
dramatic, soulful yet sassy,emotional yet empowered.
And Cam's mission is toextend this empowerment to
(01:48):
those who felt broken orisolated by a world that
sometimes feels too harsh.
His vision is clear.
Sensitive individuals, empoweredfrom within, shaping a kinder
and more sustainable world.
that foster a broader paradigmof living, being, and thriving.
I love, love, love that.
Welcome, Cam.
Cam Nichols (02:09):
Thank you for having me.
I know I'm like, tearing upalmost hearing it, which is
not a reaction I expected.
But it just, it, hearingthat being read is just
like, it's such a goodreminder of progress.
I didn't always view myselfthat way, and so hearing it
is, yeah, I just get emotional.
(02:30):
I'm all about emotions, soit makes sense, I guess.
Frida Kabo (02:33):
Yeah, yeah, I love that.
Beautiful.
Yeah, so tell us a bit moreabout your journey and how
you came to this point.
Cam Nichols (02:41):
Yeah, so I first learned about sensitivity,
Say, like I was back in likemid 2000s, I think I was still
in high school and like, it'skind of appeared in my life
every so often, I got all, Ihear about it and I'm like,
Oh my gosh, that resonates.
Like that's totally who I am.
And then life goes on andI kind of forget about it
(03:03):
and then it pops up again.
And in my work life,when I switched from
corporate America over to.
coaching.
I was really focused on likehelping introverts, like
specifically shy introvertsbecause I'm a shy introvert
myself and it has its ownseparate challenges of life.
(03:24):
Then I started to learn morelike HSP, highly sensitive,
started to pop back up in theresearch and just the stuff that
I was reading and listening toand I was like, this speaks more
to what is happening becauselike not all highly sensitive
people are introverts, but alarge majority of them are.
(03:45):
Right.
And so the things just kindof married together, but I,
I've always just felt veryemotional and dramatic and,
uh, intuition has alwaysplayed a big role in my life.
So when I learn about HSPsand the deep feeling and
the deep thinking, and Thenatural intuition that we
have to kind of see theworld differently, those kind
(04:11):
of things all kind of cametogether and I was just like,
how can I not talk about this?
Like, in truly what I'mdoing, like in my own healing
journey, with like depression,anxiety, and suicidality,
and trauma, and just healingfrom that after emotionally
shutting down, it made somuch sense of, oh, that's
why I emotionally shut down.
(04:31):
That's why I emotionallyshut down was because
I was so sensitive andI didn't understand it.
It was kind of likea messy explanation.
Frida Kabo (04:42):
This is perfect.
Perfect.
Yeah.
So yeah, this is theSensitive Success Summary.
So why do you feel it'simportant to go together and
celebrate sensitivity like this?
Cam Nichols (04:54):
I think understanding our sensitivity
is, it's imperative inorder for us to live
harmoniously in the world.
So I think that we as highlysensitive people, we have These
gifts and these superpowersthat allow us to navigate the
(05:16):
world differently and be anexample to other people in how
to live differently, becauseI think a lot of the world,
as things are shifting, that'skind of what we're seeing is
like the sensitivity of life.
That richness has kind ofbeen sucked out, and it's
the same with us, right?
(05:36):
Like, we try to fit into thismold, doesn't quite work, and we
end up feeling like really blandand really gray and drained.
And so, us being able to cometogether as sensitive people,
And be in community, it'salmost like a concentrated
power source, I guess, forlack of a better phrase, it's
(05:57):
just like, when we all cometogether, we just radiate
in such a powerful way.
And it's almost, it can't bedenied when we embrace more
of who we are as sensitivepeople, I mean, similar to
your story and my story, right?
It's like.
We learn and wecan't help but share.
(06:19):
And so coming together,I love that you put this
summit together for usto create community and
find each other and.
learn from each other,because it's, it's just such
a potent force when we do.
And with a lot of us beingintrovert, it's kind of
like, unite from our housesindividually from home.
Frida Kabo (06:42):
Exactly.
It's perfect.
Love that.
But yeah, I'm so gladthat you're here and
celebrating with us.
And so you, you talk aboutbeing a force of nature, tell
us a bit more about that.
Cam Nichols (06:56):
I've always sought balance in my life.
And for the longest time Iwas never good at it, but
because I've always been drawnto, like, magic and witchy
things and, and nature isa big part of that both in,
like, the real world and theimaginary fictitious world
of like, which is in magic.
(07:17):
And so I've learned a lotabout the elements and
there's lots of different,I don't think Pantheon is
the right word, but a lot ofdifferent belief systems and
like what elements are likethe main elements, right.
But most of them have earth,air, water, fire, and spirit.
And when I see all ofthose combined and I see
(07:38):
those different aspectsradiated in individuals.
Like different characteristicsof each element, like sensitives
or emotional associatedwith water element fire.
We're passionate and it won'tgo through every element.
But when we embrace thoseelements and we learn
(07:59):
to use them and acceptthose pieces of ourselves.
That sometimes we don't alwayslike because I think that's
the beauty of nature, right?
It truly is a balance.
We can be as beautiful aslike the ebb and flow of
the ocean, but we can alsobe really emotional and
destructive as a hurricane.
(08:21):
And so learning how toembrace those things and not
judge the hurricane when weare in that type of energy.
And learn how to embrace it andlearn from it and harness it.
I think that's kind ofthat potent force that
I'm talking about, right?
There's just this level of.
intuitive knowing andunderstanding of nature and
(08:43):
the world and how it works andhow it can work and what the
potential is to me that's beingthe force of nature is embracing
all of it, because then whenwe embrace it, we can use it.
We just have to stopjudging it first in order
to actually embrace it.
Frida Kabo (09:00):
I love that.
Yeah, and I think that a lotof those who are watching
this can relate to ourstories where we try to do
what everyone else does.
We saw around us and then westarted coming into to ourselves
and maybe have struggledwith depression and anxiety
as well How do you see that?
We can start workingwith our force of nature.
Cam Nichols (09:25):
So when I think about How to
start working with it?
Like, I have aquiz on my website.
It's the HSP ElementalEnergy type quiz.
And you basically takethis quiz, and it tells you
what's your primary element.
And then it walks youthrough what that looks like
when you're aligned versusunaligned, and how to, how
(09:45):
to switch, and kind of, youknow, get into more alignment.
And as I created that and thepeople that I've coached, I've
actually noticed like thereare four main areas that we
as sensitive people need tounderstand and find balance
in, in order to really thrive.
To really becomethat force of nature.
(10:07):
And I've not associatedthem with the elements yet.
But, maybe that'ssomething down the line.
But it's like, we need tounderstand our emotions.
Like, emotional regulationand emotional resilience.
Like, our emotions.
Like, understandingwhere our emotions are.
Come from how we generatethem, how they're created.
(10:27):
That's what allows us to kindof step into this confident
place and not judge thembecause how often are we told
like, oh, you're so emotional.
Oh, you're crying.
That makes me uncomfortable.
People don't say that,but let's be honest.
We can feel that energy.
Frida Kabo (10:43):
Yeah.
Cam Nichols (10:44):
Right.
And it's like, no, likethis is, yeah, I cry.
I cry all the time.
Cause I, I feel, I see thingsthat you know, don't necessarily
do or perceive or whatever.
So I think that's one ofthe big things is really
understanding our emotions.
I was going to say, do youwant me to talk about the
Frida Kabo (11:04):
other four?
Yeah,
Cam Nichols (11:07):
because yeah, the, uh, the other one is
authenticity alignment, right?
Truly.
When we stop judging ouremotions, we can really
then start to examine thethings that make us, us.
What are our values?
What are our strengths?
What does it mean toauthentically be us and
(11:27):
show up as ourselves?
Because so much of whatwe've learned and what's
similar in our stories, andI'm sure is similar with a
lot of the viewers, is we'regiven these roles in life.
I call it in whatI'm talking about.
I often call it socialconditioning, right?
(11:48):
We just we're taughthow to be a certain way.
We're taught how to think acertain way, and it starts
before we're even born, right?
I mean, we can go intogenerational stuff, but, like,
think about a child in the womb.
You have certain milestonesthat you are expected to hit.
Otherwise, somethingis wrong, right?
(12:08):
Then you're born.
And then those milestonemilestones begin.
Then you go into theeducation system.
And there's those milestones,and this is what good looks
like, this is how you'resupposed to behave, this is how
you're supposed to think, right?
Then you go, you graduate fromschool, and you go into the
workforce, and your boss isthere to tell you, this is what
(12:31):
good looks like, this is howyou should function, this is,
this is what, how you need tostart thinking about things.
And it's like we take so muchof that on just because of our
highly sensitive nature, right?
That deep feeling, the deepthinking, the deep processing.
We take those roles on, andthat way of being, and then
it's like one day we wake up andwe're like, how did we get here?
(12:54):
What happened?
This isn't who I am.
I don't wear suits every day.
I wear scarves.
What's going on?
And so please forgot whereI was going with that.
Like, just the idea of liketruly being able to detangle
ourselves from who we'retaught we are supposed to be.
(13:14):
That alone is just magical.
And that's, I think that'sanother thing is like,
we're all so different.
And before we hit record,we were talking about how
much we love diversity.
Right?
In the world.
We're in differentparts of the world.
We live in differentparts of the world.
And it's because wecan appreciate it.
We can recognize thatdiversity isn't a threat.
(13:35):
It's something to be cherished.
And that comesfrom authenticity.
I could probably talk about thatfor like another four hours.
That's
Frida Kabo (13:45):
what I'm really
Cam Nichols (13:45):
passionate about.
Frida Kabo (13:48):
It's beautiful.
I love it.
But yeah, let'smove on to the next
Cam Nichols (13:51):
one.
Yeah.
So then the third pieceis the mindset, right?
I think like depression,anxiety, and just the negative
self talk that we kind ofgain from other people, right?
And that we kind of takeon as our own identity.
Understanding that mindsetand learning how that mindset
works is, that's a skillin and of itself, right?
(14:14):
Uncovering who you are, learninghow to deal with your emotions
is a skill, really cominginto who you are is a skill,
managing your mind is a skill,and when you can do it, nothing,
nothing can stand in your way.
You can create change, youcan, whether that's like change
on like a global scale orwhether that's just like in
(14:35):
your day to day, I'm going towake up and I'm going to do
this because it feels good.
I love myself, so therefore I'mgoing to have a salad today,
or I love myself and I'm goingto forgo the salad, I'm going
to have a brownie instead.
It's like there's, there's nojudgment, but it's, it's truly
owning that mindset and thosestories that we tell ourselves
(14:57):
about ourselves, other peopleand the rest of the world.
And the fourth one is connectiveand supportive relationships.
So again, I've kind of talkedabout like being an introvert.
And the pandemic reallykind of, even though like
introverts, like we kind ofcelebrated, we're like, Oh,
I don't want to see anybody.
(15:17):
How amazing.
Oh, I can't like wewere in lockdown.
Sorry, but I love you.
Right?
Like we got to experience that.
But even still, it kind of putus into social atrophy, like
some of our social skills.
They've languished a littlebit and this is part of
(15:37):
why I love what you'redoing with the summit and
just your work, right?
And just creating this communityis because we as humans, we
are meant to have community.
We are meant to connect likeit's highly sensitive people.
Maybe we don'tnecessarily connect in.
large groups or large partiesand like we might be more
selective in how we connect,but connection is important.
(16:00):
And so learning how to setboundaries, learning how
to communicate with otherpeople, communicate our likes,
communicate what we don't like.
There's also this idea thatI teach with my clients is
like this idea of belonging.
Oftentimes we believethat belonging is what
other people offer to us.
(16:20):
I teach it backwards.
We are the ones whooffer belonging.
To everyone else.
So learning how to invite peopleinto our world rather than feel
like we need to go out and tryto fit into someone else's.
Frida Kabo (16:33):
Man, love that.
Yeah.
Cam Nichols (16:35):
So it's like, yeah, understanding the
emotions, your alignment intoauthenticity, your mindset, and
then connective relationships.
Those are like the four mainareas that it's like, if
you, if you want to thriveand feel whole, fulfilled,
that's kind of what I'venarrowed it down to after
coaching hundreds of people.
(16:57):
And.
My own journey and a little bit.
Frida Kabo (17:02):
Yeah, I love that.
And yeah, definitely agree.
So important.
And if someone is listeningto this and agree as well
and feel like they want todo all this, where do you
recommend them to start?
Because it's a lot.
Cam Nichols (17:13):
It is a lot.
I know.
I was like, do Ishare all of this?
It is a lot.
So I've.
So out of those, the foursections, I've kind of
come up with a question.
So I want to givethese four questions.
And this is where I'd recommendyou start, whether you journal,
whether you just think about it.
Start with these fourquestions and just see
what comes up for you.
(17:34):
So number one is what isthe worst possible emotion
you could experience?
And why for me, I thoughtit was one thing, but I
uncovered several years ago.
I'm like, Disappointment.
That's the worst becauseI felt it over and over
and over again in my life.
And I was just like,I, I completely avoided
(17:56):
everything because I wantedto avoid disappointment.
What is the worst possibleemotion you could experience?
And why?
Because emotions.
Even the ones we viewnegative are not, they're
not there to harm us, right?
They're just information.
So the second question is,what is my biggest weakness?
And how is itactually a strength?
(18:18):
What's the positive intentionbehind me having this weakness?
And again, this kind of playsinto that, that we have, we have
these judgments about ourselves.
So like an example of thiswould be procrastination.
Oh, I'm a huge procrastinator.
Why do you thinkyou procrastinate?
What's the positive intentionunderneath procrastinating?
(18:42):
Oh, it's because I'mdoing things I don't
really want to do.
Right?
So it's really interestingto see like, okay,
what's your weakness?
And how is itactually a strength?
Procrastination is like,oh, it's telling me where
I want to actually placemy energy and what I want
to create and contribute.
Third question is where orfrom whom does my negative self
(19:04):
talk originate or come from?
So this kind of goesinto that social
conditioning aspect, right?
It's like, is this somethingthat I actually believe?
Or is this somethingI kind of took on from
someone or from somewhere?
Because once you haveawareness, then you can
choose to do differently.
You can choose tothink differently.
You can choose to adopta different perspective.
(19:26):
And as I said, that like oneof your recent posts actually
totally just came to my mind.
I wish I could rememberwhich one, but I think
it was like three steps.
And the second one, secondstep was like, choose.
This helps you do that.
That question.
And then the fourth questionis, how do I want to bring
people into my world?
So understand whatyour world is, right?
(19:48):
But just like, yeah.
How do I want tobring people in?
I want to, do I like books?
Do I like watching?
Like I'm a huge, Ilove watching TV.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I used to make that thinkthat I was like super lazy and
uninteresting and, but it'slike, no, it's how I get my
recoup time, like how I rechargemyself, but it's also what I
(20:11):
love to talk to people about.
So how do I wantto bring people in?
Oh my gosh, did you see thatepisode of Schitt's Creek?
Like, ew, David.
Right.
So it's just like, how doyou want to bring people
and you want to shareyour world with them?
Frida Kabo (20:27):
Hmm.
I love that.
That is so powerful.
So powerful question.
And yeah, I really encourageeveryone to dig into them in
the way that you do your way.
If it's generally not justwondering about them or.
Yeah.
Talking to them.
The friend or whatever.
You
Cam Nichols (20:46):
just see what comes up when you ask yourself
them, is it an emotion?
Is it an image?
Is it a sound?
Is it a memory?
Because all like, it doesn'tmatter how you go about
it, but just know whenyou notice what comes up.
There's so much informationthat can be gleaned just
from that awareness.
Frida Kabo (21:05):
And you also talked about the different, our
different forces of nature ashighly sensitive and you have
a free quiz as well for this.
Yeah.
Can you tell us a bitmore about that quiz?
Yeah.
Cam Nichols (21:18):
Yeah.
Frida Kabo (21:19):
Yeah.
The
Cam Nichols (21:21):
quiz.
I'm really proud of it.
I love it.
Like it's, it's very muchlike intuition based in how
I created it and just theknowledge that I have of the
elements and their symbology.
Is that a word?
Symbolism.
But like when you take it,you discover kind of which
(21:41):
elements You, this is likeyour primary element, I guess,
earth, air, fire, water, spirit.
And there's an ebook thatI emailed afterwards.
So it's like, you have your, youget your detailed explanation,
but then you also get toread the other elements too.
And it helps you kind ofunderstand what is your
natural intuition, like howdoes it, how can it manifest?
(22:04):
How can you keep an eye outfor it and fine tune it?
It talks about what aresome common emotions
and characteristics whenyou're in alignment.
Um, when you're like,so like Earth is, is an
example, is, uh, has a reallystrong, grounded energy.
It's a leadershipenergy and so yeah.
(22:27):
When you're aligned, you feelreally grounded and connected,
right, and compassionate.
When you're not aligned,you do not feel grounded.
You like.
You want to kind of hideand seclude yourself.
So it kind of goesinto more of that.
And then it's like, okay,if you need help getting out
and like getting out of theunalignment back into alignment,
(22:51):
here's some things to try.
It's very detailed.
Like the ebook in and of itselfis like, it's over 40 pages.
So like there's a lot ofreally good information in
there to just help understandyourself in a different
way than maybe you have.
Frida Kabo (23:10):
That's great.
Yeah, we'll put the linkhere, go over and do it.
And if you want to, you can letus know what your element is.
I will definitely goand do it as well.
It looks really interesting.
So is there anything else thatyou would like to say to, to the
sensitives that are listening?
I know there's so muchmore we could talk about.
Cam Nichols (23:28):
I know.
I didn't realize itwas so long winded.
I guess that's what happenswhen you're passionate about
what you're talking about.
Frida Kabo (23:33):
Yeah.
Cam Nichols (23:35):
I think that the thing that I would leave you
with is We often think thatour emotions will overwhelm us
and like if we really give intothem and we really dive into
them, especially the negativeones, despair, grief, anxiety,
depression, there's this fearthat we will get stuck and
(23:58):
that we'll just stay there.
And what I want to offer is thatyou won't stay there because
that's not how nature works.
That's not how emotions workand, and again, being able to
dive in and it's okay to beafraid that you're going to
get stuck and just continueto remind yourself of like,
(24:19):
no, there's information inthis and I, this will cycle
out, but not being afraid ofthat deep emotional energy
because a lot of the clientsthat I work with are people
who feel like they haveemotionally numbed themselves
or emotionally shut down.
And so I work a lot with them onremoving judgment from emotion.
(24:42):
And a lot of it's just, it's,it's fear based in this aspect.
So it's like emotions,aren't things to run from.
They can actually vary healing.
And when you just releaseda podcast episode about this
as well, about increasingemotional capacity, when you're
willing to feel terrible, youalso open yourself up to feel
(25:03):
amazing, incredible things.
And I'm constantlysurprised as I increase
that emotional capacity, howmy life changes when I do.
And it's a surprise every time,
Frida Kabo (25:17):
in the best way.
Yeah.
Yeah, I kind of get thepicture of a waterfall when
you're talking, like, if wetry to put it down on top,
it's going to seep out.
But if we dare to just letit go, it can flow and you
don't have to hold it all in.
You can just let it go.
It's nature.
Cam Nichols (25:37):
Yeah.
It creates rainbowsand it's refreshing and
it's just beautiful.
Frida Kabo (25:40):
Beautiful.
Love it.
Wonderful.
Thank you so, so much forsharing all your wisdom with us.
As I said, there's so much morewe could talk about, but thank
you for, for this conversation.
I really appreciate it.
And I think those who arewatching this did as well.
And yeah, thank you forthe work that you do
in the world as well.
It's so important.
Cam Nichols (26:00):
Same.
Thank you for, for bringingme into this, allowing
me to be part of it, andI, and just creating the
community that you are.
I feel very grateful,and Excited.
Frida Kabo (26:14):
Thank you.
Yeah.
So glad you're here.
Thank you.
Thank you for listeningto Sensitive Success.
If you enjoyed this episode,please leave a review and
share it with someone who couldbenefit from this message.
And come over and connect withme on Instagram at Frida Kabo.
And remember, sensitivityis neither good or bad.
(26:34):
It's what we make of it.
Embrace your sensitivityand use it to create
sensitive success your way.
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