George has big feelings (and strong opinions) about everything.
He feels everything so deeply and experiences everything so intensely, it makes the world very challenging for him. He is highly sensitive to changes in his environment, even things like moving a plant pot to a slightly different location, as well as different textures, sensations, sounds and smells.
He can't tell me how he's actually feeling, so understanding body language and behaviour is extremely important.
People talk a lot about the negative big feelings of course - the anxiety, the fear, the nervousness. For George, these manifest as loud, explosive (noticeable!) reactions. More on this at What do George's reactions look like.
But he experiences extremely positive big feelings as well.
He displays signs of experiencing extreme and absolute joy - when playing, when returning home, when I greet him with a "Good Morning!" (even though we've not been apart for the whole night😆), running around at a Sniffspot, when someone from his circle of trust comes over...
He absolutely adores splashing in water. I think there is something sensory about it - he almost goes into a trance, ignoring the world around him and focusing on the sensations as he splish-splashes back and forth.
Daycare pick-up is a major one, but is somewhat challenging. Because his feelings (of joy at that stage) are so big and his arousal levels are so high, they can tip over into negative feelings in a split second, for example when a person arrives at the same time. It gets very intense. In a very small space. I get nervous about it (which I know really doesn't help) as we've had some challenging situations.
We are working on calm greetings on collection at the special needs daycare, but at the busier 'normal' daycare, I just need to get him out of there as soon as possible. He really struggles to self-regulate when he's experiencing such extreme joy and excitement.
Extremely big feelings can be positive feelings as well as negative. But over-arousal (in either direction) and an inability to self-regulate is a challenge. We continue to work on building and rewarding calm.
But I do find it helpful to remember that his big feelings enable him to experience sheer joy, happiness and pleasure, amongst the moments of anxiety and fear.