Are you Highly Sensitive? Find out how this affects your relationships.

What is a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)?

A highly sensitive person (HSP) is someone who is greatly affected by social stimuli and is thought to have increased or deeper central nervous system sensitivity. Physical, emotional or social stimuli seem to affect them more. 

Researches show that roughly 15-20% of the population is highly sensitive. While highly sensitive people are often negatively described as “too sensitive” or shy, being highly sensitive is just a personality trait that brings both strengths and challenges. 

How can you tell if you are Highly Sensitive?

The brains of the highly sensitive people work differently. HSP process information and reflect on it more, on a deeper level, and they are acutely aware of their environments with all its subtleties. This deeper feeling and understanding makes them more vulnerable and sometimes overstimulated by their environment. 

Here are some signs that can indicate you are highly sensitive:

• You are very emotional. 

You experience emotions intensely and react strongly to them. Some highly sensitive people may notice that they cry easily, for positive or negative reasons. 

• You are very sensitive to criticism

Criticism feels personal and painful, and you have a hard time seeing it as constructive. Often, highly sensitive people cand spend days or weeks thinking and obsessing about the smallest comment or perceived criticism and this can keep them from acting on their dreams and goals. 

You are intuitive

Very often you feel the vibe of a room or crowd, as you walk in, which is fine when the energy is positive, but when it is negative, this can be difficult for you. You tend to avoid large crowds for this reason. 

Also, it happens to “feel” what decision you should take in some situations, if something is good or bad for you, even if you do not have a rational explanation at the moment. 

• You overthink and worry

You tend to analyse every detail of a situation when taking a decision. Sometimes even simple day-to-day decisions, like what to wear or what to eat, can give you a hard time and get you stuck in overthinking all the possible scenarios. 

• You are sensitive to external stimuli

Sometimes you are bothered by subtle noises that no one else around seems to notice. Also, the rough fabric of your clothes or a person wearing too much perfume might drive you nuts.

What causes High Sensitivity?

Being highly sensitive is thought to have genetic roots, but early childhood environment and experience may play an important role as well. Evidence suggests that early experiences may have an effect on the genes associated with sensitivity. 

How does HSP affect the relationships?

Being highly sensitive can make relationships a bit harder and less happy. 

HSP are more aware of their surroundings and the people in it, cand have stronger emotional reaction to people’s behaviour, and can feel more stress. 

But they are so compassionate and generous, they prefer deep, meaningful relationships and they are so open and authentic, that they are great to be around. 

HSP tend to be focused very much on helping others and forget about themselves. 

Navigating relationships as a highly sensitive person can be challenging, but accepting yourself, setting healthy boundaries and finding the balance between helping others and helping yourself cand make things much easier. 

 

Being Highly Sensitive comes with a lot of benefits, as intuition, empathy, awareness and appreciation of little things and a lot of creativity, so, if you are a Highly Sensitive person, celebrate this every day, accept and love yourself for what you are!

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