Are You Highly Sensitive?

by Vicki Heise,CHC,HHP

I have decided to share a lifelong personal struggle with you.

I know my life would have turned around much sooner if I had been aware  that being highly sensitive was just another way of being. By sharing this I am hoping that at least one person discovers more understanding about themselves or someone they love.

Becoming aware of this has truly changed my life. Please share this with anyone you feel needs this information.They may find the missing piece to live their happier, healthier life!

Are You Highly Sensitive?

Have you ever been told you were too sensitive or shy – especially as a child?
Have you been told that you need to toughen up?
Do you cry easily but try not to because someone makes fun of you?
Does watching something violent make you more uncomfortable than it does other people?
Do you avoid going to a great movie that has violent parts even if it means not going with friends? Or do you go and then wish you didn’t?

Is it hard for you to be in large crowds – and to you large can be just a few people?
Do you start to feel overwhelmed and thinking about how to escape and finding
someplace quiet to recover? And does the recovery sometime takes days?

Are you very aware of sounds, smells, colors, flavors and how things feel?
Are you very moved just seeing something or hearing music?
Have you mentioned something you noticed and other people didn’t even know what you were talking about?

These are a few of the things that I experienced for 59 years and wondered “What is wrong with me?”.

Early in life I started to keep my thoughts and feelings to myself.
I began to feel that who I was wasn’t “normal”. I learned to protect myself.
My self esteem kept shrinking and I turned to food to comfort myself and help
relieve the anxiety I constantly felt.

My husband understood a little better about how I experienced things when one day I told him the water in the shower he had turned on was now hot – while I was 20 ft away. He asked how I knew and I said the sound of the running water had changed. He checked and the water was hot.

At the age of 59 I became aware of something called HSP – a Highly Sensitive Person. It turns out that 20-30% of people are HSPs. It is not a disease, not an affliction, not something to be ashamed of. About the same percentage appears in animals. It’s just part of Mother Nature’s plan.

If the above describes you (or someone you know), you may be a Highly Sensitive Person. When I started reading about HSP I recognized myself and finally understood why my senses seemed different than other peoples. I am extremely grateful that I am now aware and have found ways to use this gift to enhance my life and the lives of others.

At an event right after I became aware of HSP I wrote about the experience and at the end listed the things that I learned and how things were different:

In the past, I did not want to go to anything that might be a possible trigger …
THIS TIME I TRIED
In the past, I stayed in situations that were causing me physical and mental pain
that required days of solitude and rest to recover…
THIS TIME I DID NOT
In the past, I did not ask for help…
THE NEXT TIME I WILL
At the time, I did what I needed to do…
I TOOK CARE OF MYSELF
At the time, I was hard on myself…
I’VE SINCE TOLD MYSELF “GREAT JOB”

For myself I’ve renamed HSP to Happily Super Powered!

If you think you are HSP, have a spouse who might be, are raising a child you suspect may be, look here are some books that myself and others have found helpful.