Hello, My Name is Alycia and I Am a Highly Sensitive Person

Today, I found out that I'm not an anomaly of a person who feels too deeply.  I am a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP).  According to Dr. Aron, who has been studying HSPs since 1991, I'm normal!  (https://hsperson.com/).  20-30% of the general population are HSPs! (https://hsperson.com/)  I always dismissed that I could be an HSP before because I'm an extrovert but apparently so are 30% of HSPs!  (https://hsperson.com/).  

It is super exciting to find all of this out as in the past I have been told I "overreact", I'm "too sensitive", I'm "judgmental", blah blah blah.  Nope.  Not the case.  I am more perceptive than most people and sensitive to subtleties around me that most others do not pick up.  

The problem with this is I'm also extremely outspoken and a lot of people do not want to know when they are headed down the wrong path.  I've always been especially perceptive when it comes to others' significant others.  I can sniff out a narcissist in no time.  BUT it's not fool proof.  I have been wrong before but it's not often.  I've lost a lot of friends from giving my "opinions" only for them to come back to me years later and apologize for not believing me and ending our friendship over it.  It's nice when that happens, but it's also too late in a lot of ways.  We lost years we could have had bonding because they were offended by what I perceived which turned out to be the truth.  It's frustrating. 

Another problem is that I feel my feelings strongly to a point of obsession and I have to have these feelings validated.  Unfortunately, most people do not know how to react when an HSP gets fully vulnerable with them.  They freeze up.  They think we're crazy.  They get overwhelmed.  It's a lot for them.  That leads to HSPs being ignored or phased out of friendship circles, which is really hard!   

Some HSPs also feel the emotions of others.  I am one of these people.  I never understood why I couldn't help but laugh at jokes I didn't understand when others were laughing.  I never understood why, when my husband had heart surgery, my whole body was in immense pain.   I never understood why I could understand the subtle shifts in other people's moods and their reactions but others couldn't.  It's both a gift and a curse to feel the emotions of others.  Sometimes the negative emotions of others can get so overwhelming for me that I need time alone in my room to get lost in a book.  

Apparently HSPs are also very attuned to the arts and nature.  That definitely tracks.  I am constantly doing something creative.... writing, painting, crocheting, marketing, etc.  I'm also super into nature...and I can even pick up when the seasons start to change before most.  I was able to do it in Florida too.  The leaves change so slightly there but I could always tell.

Another thing is that I'm particularly sensitive to touch.  It's like my entire body can be lit up by pleasure or pain or both depending on the circumstances.  This might be why I hate the feeling of water on my skin in any form or why I need certain fabrics touching me to sleep well.  I also have fibromyalgia and my doctor told me I have the most severe fibromyalgia she's ever witnessed.  Now, knowing that my nerve endings are stronger, that makes a lot of sense.  A lot of the time I wince before the touch even happens because I know how my body will feel.  It's pretty crazy. 

Anyway, even though a lot of people don't understand things about me being an HSP, it is a blessing to know that's what I am rather than an alien with 5 heads, like I always thought I was. 

Resource: https://hsperson.com/

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