Every twentieth person is considered a highly sensitive person (HSP). This means that either you yourself or someone you know may be sensitive. 42% of the population are not highly sensitive, meaning that most things don't bother them as much as HSPs. Everyone else falls somewhere in between, with a few being completely emotionless. (By the way - 20% of the entire animal kingdom is also highly sensitive).
Who are HSPs and what are they like?
Who are HSPs? We are thinkers, those cautious, conservative people; the ones that say “Hey, wait a minute. Before we do something rash, let's think it through."
Every society needs highly sensitive people, just as we need warriors, leaders who are ready to take risks. However, we are the ones who help temper the not-so-sensitive types, the ones who can be bold, rash and impulsive and may not have thought through the consequences of their actions. Highly sensitive people are most often people in the roles of advisors, counselors, and abstinence advocates.
Unfortunately in western society we have also been labeled as somewhat "defective" by how non-hsp's see us. We are considered "too sensitive, too cautious, too shy, too timid, too introverted, too fearful." It should be noted that these are not "problems" to be fixed and addressed with sensitive people. The labels that are attached to us are causing problems. Many insensitive people are also shy, timid, introverted, and fearful, while there are many highly sensitive people who are outgoing, super friendly, extroverted, and risk takers. We just tend to think things through first and consider all the factors our senses pick up before we move on.
Misinterpreted features and characteristics
So what are some traits and characteristics of a highly sensitive person? Let's look at some of the facts and mythic labels that have been attached to this special group.
Shyness – In the HSP group you will probably find a larger proportion of shy people. That doesn't mean everyone is shy. That's a myth. A lot of insensitive people are also shy. Sometimes what is mistaken for shyness is actually an assessment of the situation and the people we just met. we are careful. If our senses tell us that there is something wrong with the person, we will not be as open with them. First impressions count. It's not just about how a person is dressed, but about their entire behavior, aura, attitude and other small subtleties that we absorb with all our senses. We process the thoughts, feelings and sensations we receive in each new situation. This can make some of us appear "shy" when we are not.
Introvert - another myth. You'll find that many HSPs can be outgoing, outgoing, and fun-loving. You will also find many insensitive people as introverts. Don't mistake deep thinking and inner reflection for introversion. We need a lot more alone time. Our nervous system can become overloaded in a situation that would be somewhat stimulating for an insensitive person. If we become jittery and overstimulated, we need to find a quiet place as soon as possible to settle down again. This is why many HSPs tend to stay home more often than not than go out partying. It's not that we don't want it... we just know our systems can't handle the overload for very long. If we can't get away, we withdraw into ourselves as a kind of protective shield to try to limit the noise, sights, sounds and smells that bombard us to calm down.
Fear - If you are not completely emotionless and have enough conscious consideration for others, who can say they have never been afraid? This is not an exclusive characteristic of sensitive people. New experiences often cause butterflies, fearful thoughts and inner restlessness in most people. HSPs simply tend to feel these emotions more deeply.
Timidity - Caution, careful assessment of the situation, the need to see the "whole picture" and the possible resulting consequences of our actions are simply in our nature. If everyone threw themselves recklessly into everything, we would have even more chaos in our world than it is now.
Over sensitive - Yes, that's our main trait. We assimilate everything around us at once. Lights, sounds, smells, energy vibrations are all absorbed, processed and evaluated. Unfortunately, when there is too much activity and noise around us, we cannot handle it for long periods of time. For example, what may be a low to medium level of music to an insensitive person may sound like a rock concert level to us. We are emotionally affected by much of the disharmony in the world. We feel another person's pain, we are aware of the low level of anger or resentment in the room, we empathize with other people's problems, and we feel great grief over terrible tragedies.
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