Why do I blush more than others?

Today I wanted to talk about that feeling of being broken, or having something wrong with you because you blush. So many people with this condition, think that they’re broken, that there’s something wrong with them… maybe they think they’ve got a medical condition that’s incurable or that their chronic blushing or erythrophobia is going to be a life-sentence.

• I’m here to tell you that chronic blushing is not a life-sentence
• You are not broken
• There is nothing wrong with you
• And you can cure yourself of blushing

It takes time. And it’s a step-by-step approach, but you can cure yourself from blushing. I’ve done it. And if I’ve done it, you can do it too.

People ask me:

• “why is it that I blush so badly?
• “why don’t other people blush as much?

My answer to this is that you’re probably a very sensitive person. You’re caring… sensitive…thoughtful… and empathetic. And in a social context, you might feel things more keenly than the next person.

At some point in your life – and you may not remember it at all – something happened in a social context, where you felt embarrassed or ashamed and you blushed.

And your body perceived that as a trauma – because you’re sensitive, your body felt it more keenly then perhaps another person would have. It’s important to know that when it comes to blushing, it’s not so much the traumatic event itself – but rather how the body responds to the event. No two people are the same, and what your body felt as traumatic might not have been perceived as traumatic by my body – especially if you are more sensitive than me.

So your body registered a specific social context as traumatic – and now, anytime a situation resembles that original trigger, your body goes into it’s blush response as a protective mechanism: it’s trying to avoid you getting into a potentially embarrassing or shameful situation again. Your body is doing it’s best to protect you.

Or maybe you’re not especially sensitive – or not more sensitive than the next average Joe. But perhaps at the time that your blushing started, you were going through a sensitive or highly emotional time in your life, and so you were more sensitive than you normally are. One of my clients lost a parent around the time they started to blush… another lost their job… there can be many reasons for our emotions to be highly charged at specific periods in our lives. And if you were in a social situation at that phase in your life – one where you felt embarrassed or ashamed for some reason – and a blush came… then you’re body perceived that as a threat and imprinted a safety mechanism to protect you from similar situations in the future.

So that’s why you blush – at least that’s my current thoughts on this after many years of study and research.

I hope you found this explanation helpful, and I’d love to know if it resonated with you?

What was your first blushing memory? How old were you? Were you going through an emotional time back then? Answering these questions can increase our understanding of our blushing and help us navigate it and move forward.