Ultimate Self (realizing personal potential)

Being sensitive

Many people are sensitive in the sense that they are perceptive, aware, and considerate of others. But some people are sensitive in another way. Their nervous systems are overactive. They respond more strongly to all sorts of stimuli, both external and internal than “normal” people.

Research suggests that between 15 and 20% of the population has a highly sensitive nervous system. It is generally considered that sensitivity is genetic and inherited but I suspect that a person can be born with a normal nervous system and develop a sensitive one through abuse, neglect, or trauma. Their nervous system becomes sensitised to stress and anxiety.

So what does having an over-reactive nervous system mean? If you are highly sensitive you may:

Feel emotions more strongly than others.

Feel overwhelmed by noise, crowds, stress, chaos, bright lights, and/or physical discomfort.

Find that alcohol, drugs, medications and environmental pollutants have a greater effect on you than others.

Have low self-esteem due to feeling “weak” in comparison to others.

Feel lonely and like an outsider because you are so “different” from the non-sensitive norm.

Have a highly developed sense of empathy to the point that you feel others’ pain intensely.

Be so sensitive to the moods and personality of others that you can “read” them but often find this exhausting and need much time alone.

Find that violence, cruelty, and anger disturb you greatly.

Have trouble dealing with conflict.

Often need to withdraw from people and the world to recover.

Find that other people can see you as too “intense” and/or “serious”.

Suffer greatly from things that other people take in their stride, such as the hassles of traveling or commuting.

Relive and replay events and experiences.

Have a vivid imagination and varied interests and so tend to try to do too many things or do too much because you find so much so interesting.

Not handle time pressures well.

Be highly observant and note small things, details and changes.

Sometimes feel raw and exposed and battered by the world.

Have trouble with employment unless you can find a job that doesn’t overly stress you.

Being highly sensitive can be difficult. Non-sensitive people can be very negative about the trait and so can sensitive people themselves. But being sensitive does not make someone weak, feeble, inferior, pathetic, delicate, faulty or a coward or a wimp. In fact society has much to thank sensitive people for. They more often than not produce the art, literature, and humanitarian advances that make life worth living.

So to all the sensitive souls out there I say:

Accept and embrace your sensitivity.

Adapt your life and world to accommodate your trait (such as learning how to cope with stress).

While it is possible to “toughen” yourself up to a degree by gradually desenzitising yourself to things that stress you, it is pointless trying to make yourself into a “non-sensitive” or worse, an “insensitive”.