Who is a highly sensitive person?
Highly Sensitive People, or HSPs, experience heightened sensitivity to surroundings and emotions. People who identify with this trait report being significantly impacted by other people’s moods, sounds, and various other stimuli. The common identifiers in HSP are depth of processing, overstimulation, emotional reactivity, and sensitivity to subtle stimuli.
Depth of processing means you notice more details in your environment and also think deeply about what you notice. First, you notice details in your environment. Deep thinking ensues, and strong emotions may follow. When you think deeply about things in your surroundings, this could cause emotions to change rapidly during the day based on what comes your way.
Overstimulation often happens when a highly sensitive person is in a noisy environment, a new place, or in a crowd. Overstimulation can also happen when you are going through a big life change. Things start to feel like “too much.” A person may need to spend time alone or retreat to where they feel safe and less stimulated. A slight dissociation may occur when you begin to pull away from your surroundings and go inward. This is often done subconsciously to create a felt sense of safety.
Highly Sensitive people tend to have more emotional reactivity. This means they have strong emotions, whether that is sadness, depression, excitement, or joy. An exciting life change, like landing a job you wanted or meeting a new friend, can make you so happy you could explode. When you’re depressed, you could feel as though you’ve felt that way forever and that it will never end.
Highly sensitive people can also be highly empathetic. This could mean they notice when a friend is down by picking up on subtle energy shifts or micro-expressions on their face. High levels of empathy can make a person more likely to feel another person’s emotions as their own. This piece can result in confusion as to whether your emotions are your own or someone else’s. “Taking things personally” brings on a new meaning when you experience others’ feelings as your own.
Sensitivity to subtle stimuli means being highly aware of your senses and interpreting your environment through those senses. A bad smell can become extremely disturbing, loud noises lead to rapid irritation, and distracting and bright lights can almost be felt piercing through your soul!
Having traits of a highly sensitive person can at first feel like a curse. You may struggle with emotional extremes and emotional regulation. These are superpowers but could come out as putting yourself down, being bullied, or being called “too sensitive” by other people. However, once you are aware of these traits and accept them as a natural part of your biology, you can truly harness your power. Being able to perceive subtleties means you could have a heightened emotional and social intelligence.
Embrace yourself and discover your magical powers. Through awareness and acceptance, you can harness these gifts for the betterment of yourself and your community.