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.