People Born with Double-edged Swords in their Hands
Just some thoughts about HSPs lately and I’m about to turn that thought cloud in my head into something that feels like an essay or something on magazine. Might not be perfect. Just writing it down here.
Have you ever heard of HSPs? HSP, a.k.a. Highly
Sensitive Person, is that type of person who got the gifted talent, but that
talent can also hurt them way more than we imagine.
HSPs are born different. Amongst 15% to 20%
of us, are HSPs, they got the brain that can sense things others might ignore,
and analyze things way deeper than others, with the help of high Sensory
processing sensitivity (SPS) helping their brain to sense things better, it
sounds like a charm, right? But as we’ve discussed, this ability can also be a
very painful curse, making everyday life feel like a nightmare to them.
Being HSP isn’t always a charm. Imagine:
you suddenly scream in a room, others might just be concerned or annoyed of the
sudden burst of voice in a quiet room, but the cat in the room gets their
eardrum blasted by the spike of noise that feels like echoing TV static playing
in full volume, or if you place a fresh cucumber on a random place, others
might just be confused by the cucumber, maybe just questioning “Why is it
there?”, but if a cat saw the cucumber, they interpret it as a snake, a
predator that can risk their life and flees in panic just to survive. Just like
the cat in these two scenarios, if you pull a joke that “feels like nothing” to
HSPs, they might be very frustrated, and a miswording in your phrase might be
overthought by HSPs not in your intended way, which eventually leading to more
misunderstandings and confusions no one really wants.
HSPs’ talent could be ruined by the toxic environment.
People often misunderstands their sensitivity as “being dramatic”, asking them
to “try to toughen up”, but this advice, can feel like a disapproval of their
value, equal to “You’re weak”, and it becomes “You don’t belong here”, “You
belong nowhere”, which just worsens up the situation and often leading to
something even worse, under the overwhelm of high-density, high-frequency emotional
noise, the fight or flight response triggers, because they can’t fight the
noise, they “dull up”, like cutting the wires of high clarity microphones in a
high end camcorder just to make it not to pick up background noises that ruins
the recording in a traffic jam where everyone drives diesel, and facing the “dulled
up” HSPs, people often say “See? You made it, it was just you being too
dramatic!” eventually hurting them even more, completely ignoring that being sensitive
isn’t their choice, it’s about how their brain is designed in that way.
But HSPs can shine bright too. Just like
these detection dogs in the airport, they can use their
ability of strong sense, for example, in a discussion or conversation, they
often gets the overall and changes of atmosphere and tone, topic quite faster
and more accurate than others, thus like, if the conversation becomes toxic,
they can sense it before it gets obvious and uncomfortable, getting a good
timing to quit or “steer the wheel” of conversation back, also, they can also
be one that provides most emotional support of empathy because they can “sniff”
your mood while others might be unable to do so.
Accept HSPs with open mind. Even though they have
differences, it’s not about them being dramatic, it’s all about how their brain
is wired, and these “quirks” are just side effects of a precise brain in modern
society, so, try to understand them, accept them, and welcome them with your
broadly open mind.
And to the HSPs reading this now, being sensitive isn’t
your fault. If you find the right place and right way to take advantage of your
gifted ability, it’s where your hidden gem shine bright.

