A highly sensitive person often ‘feels too much’ and ‘feels too deep.’
High sensitivity can be defined as acute physical, mental, and emotional responses to external (social, environmental) or internal (intra-personal) stimuli.
A highly sensitive person can be an introvert, extrovert, or somewhere between.
There are many benefits to being a highly sensitive person, like greater ability to empathize with others, greater ability to listen and help others, and greater intuitiveness. However, being highly sensitive can also take a toll on your mental health, happiness, and success, so it’s important to recognize when you take a step back.
Here are five signs you may be a highly sensitive person:
You Get Emotionally Drained From Absorbing Other People’s Feelings.
As a highly sensitive person, you often take on too much at a time, especially when it comes to trying to fix people and things. This overflow of emotions often leaves you feeling drained of your energy and happiness.
Your Environment Easily Influences You.
Whether it be the music being played or how crowded it is, you feel everything as a highly sensitive person. And your mood can completely change just from minor aspects of your environment. You feel everything much more than those around you, whether it be the music, drama, cruelty, or the crowd.
You Feel A Sense Of Responsibility For Things You Don’t Solely Determine.
As a highly sensitive person, you want to fix every issue that may arise, and when you can’t fix things that aren’t solely determined by you, like climate change, you feel significantly hurt and bothered.
Constantly Compare Yourself To Others.
You compare yourself with others often in physical, relational, social, work, financial or other scenarios and experience unhappy feelings from negative social comparison. While it’s common for humans to sometimes compare themselves to each other, highly sensitive people can never seem to rid themselves of negative feelings of comparison.
Physical Symptoms From Anxiety.
When a highly sensitive person is anxious, has a bad day, experiences stress, or something unpleasant happens, they often feel physically sick. They can experience headaches and nausea due to a bad day.
If you’re a highly sensitive person, the key is to calm yourself down in times of distress and practice mindfulness. Just a few minutes of meditation every day can help you slow down the overstimulation occurring in your mind.
