You’re Too Sensitive 😩 Doesn’t Have to be a Bad Thing…
A couple years ago my mom and my oldest sister started to sound like they were talking in code. More and more I would hear them use the acronym “HSP” in their conversations. As you can imagine, when you first hear someone refer to any acronym, you immediately assume it’s something for use in texting like “LOL” or “TTYL.” This is not the case with this acronym, in fact it is far from widely used. Even as I write about it now, I’m wondering if you are familiar with what HSP stands for? Don’t worry, you’re not alone in not knowing… But now you can know that it stands for “highly sensitive person.” I am an HSP, and so are 20% of people.
Being a highly sensitive person is a unique and innate trait. As HSP expert Julie Bjelland points out, “It is not a disorder… but a trait that evolved as a survival strategy of the population and offered greater sensitivity and responsiveness to environmental and social stimuli. People with this trait had specially developed abilities that helped them be good at finding food, mates, and a safe place for the tribe to live.”
Being sensitive has hardly felt like a gift. Instead, it often felt mostly painful. Surprisingly, learning this little three-letter acronym started a shift for my own relationship with and experience in being a highly sensitive human. To me, it felt like I had been chronically ill for years, going to doctors to try to get answers, and hitting dead ends at every turn. Have you ever had that feeling where something feels wrong, but you there is no way to title it? Then, maybe, just maybe you got a diagnosis, or found someone that could relate, or a way to label it. Suddenly, it’s not all in your head! You’re not crazy… And most importantly, you’re not alone!
While labels like this can sometimes take over and start to define us, that has not been my experience with recognizing I am an HSP. It has given me the language to understand my internal and external world. Not just that, it has also given me the words and strength to convey that to others and advocate for myself more. This is about reclaiming the word “sensitive” and recognizing that it IS in fact my greatest gift. But it is also the awareness that the best gifts are thoughtful ones, and so my gift needs and deserves a great deal of thoughtfulness.
Do you consider yourself sensitive?
