5 Signs You May Be a Highly Sensitive Person
My personal story of being a highly sensitive man and how it has effected my life
Do you find yourself requiring a great deal of alone time, in order to fully function or feel at your best?
Do you find it difficult to be around large groups of people for more than 1-2 hours at a time without feeling exhausted?
Are you deeply moved on an emotional level by music, nature, or other sensual pleasures?
If you’ve answered yes to the three questions above then you may be a highly sensitive person.
If you’re still not sure, you can read along for more 5 other qualities that all highly sensitive people share, or your can take the quick test here.
Regardless, as an introvert, intuitive, and deep emotional feeler, I decided to compile a short list from my own personal experience, that may help you better understand if this is apart of your way of being, and more importantly if so, how to navigate through it in the art of self-care
1. Your Highly Empathetic
Rather a male or female, you absorb others emotions like sponge. It’s like you’re walking around with a highly tuned antennae that picks up on all the subtleties of the environment around you.
You can tell with a psychic like ability how someone is doing just by making quick eye contact or noticing a slight shift in ones voice.
This is a gift, as it affords you a unique skill that overtime not only strengthens your decision-making ability, but also your ability to deeply connect with others when they need it the most.
The issue comes into play when you absorb so many emotions outside of yourself that it affects you and your ability to fully navigate through your own.
A daily practice, like meditation, over time helps you not only create a boundary for how you take care of yourself, but also makes it easier to assimilate between what feelings are yours, and what doesn’t genuinely belong to you.
2. You Require Plenty of Alone Time
Whether introverted or extroverted, alone time is a necessity for us all.
We need it to recharge our minds and bodies, as well as all the other relaxation and stress relieving measures it offers.
However as a highly sensitive person, you require more than average person.
You become drained if you’re around too many humans for more than a couple hours.
It can be tough because not all situations are ideal and there are times when it feels like it cannot be avoided.
A couple winters ago I spent a few weeks in Finland for the Christmas holiday.
It was the first time I was set to meet my then at the time girlfriends’ family and friends from her native country.
Over the course of the first few days there I had to have at least met 50+ people.
While I enjoyed being immersed in a new culture and meeting new potential family, the day after Christmas (Finland celebrates on the 24th)I was absolutely exhausted.
I was actually in that state before then but it was the day after where I created a boundary and took a stand on my personal space.
I told her that I love you and your family, but I am going to spend an entire day to myself.
I knew this proclamation wasn’t going to be the most comfortable one, as I was a new person in town and to an extent on other peoples time, however due to becoming overly stressed from not having any “me”time, I created that container with myself.
I spent the entire day reading, going to the sauna (aFinnish tradition), and just overall relaxing my body from the constant state of being around people (and stimulations)
The next day I felt re-energized and in a much better mood to be around people.
In order to prevent the same thing from continuously happening throughout the rest of the trip abroad, I made guidelines of not spending more than 2-3 hours around a large group of people and allocated time to just do nothing each day.
It was truly a great learning experience for me and one I recommend for all other highly sensitive people who may experience the same reactions from “too much human” time.
3. You are sensitive to Certain Foods (especially stimulants)
Do you notice that you feel tired, bloated, or just “off”when you eat certain foods?
Or maybe you feel “off” so much that you don’t even realize that it could be from the foods you’re eating.
Regardless of which category you fall into, highly sensitive people tend to have heightened sensitivities to foods.
It’s because highly sensitive types have nervous systems that are fine tuned to not only process the external environment deeply, but this also proves more than true inside of their physical bodies too.
I myself used to be a daily coffee drinker but as my body over the years became adapted to it’s most natural energetic state, I realized just how much nervous energy and anxiety coffee evoked inside of me.
Plus I was no longer able to fall asleep at a normal time in the evening, even after having just a small amount in the mornings with breakfast.
I also became aware that while not allergic to wheat or dairy, that those foods created inflammation in body causing discomfort in my stomach as well as rashes on my skin.
If you do find yourself feeling like your clock is sped up each and everyday, like you’re unable to quiet down your mind (especially in the evenings before bed), then I’d recommend removing coffee for 30 days to see how your body responds without it.
4. You’re deeply moved by Beauty
This is an interesting one, as I personally haven’t always appreciated the finer things of life like art, music, and nature.
However, if you find yourself often having an emotional experience when immersed by the sensual pleasures of life, then you may be a highly sensitive person.
Certain tones of music gives me goose bumps and I’m often brought to tears when hearing the melodies of particular instruments.
The violin always gets me.
But the saxophone and piano hit me right in the feels too.
My music interest have shifted from in the past being comprised of heavy hip-hop and rap, to now more electronic.
There are many different genres in electronic.
My personal favorites are Downtempo and Deep House – both fuse jazz, techno, drums, bass, and other symphonic or orchestra tones music.
How I continue to experience it throughout the years has consistently been the same, deeply.
The same goes for being surrounded by trees or any other bodies of waters like lakes or the ocean.
It’s an oasis of relaxation when a highly sensitive person gets to immerse in the healing qualities of fresh air, sunshine, and the grounding properties of wildlife.
If you find yourself relating to this then do yourself a favor and spend more time tapping back into nature, or listening to melodic tones that invigorate you and energize your soul.
5. You get overwhelmed at bars, concerts, or sporting events
This is tough one for me to admit to, as I grew up playing sports my whole life and my previous almost ten-year career was working in theNFL and MLB.
I absolutely loved being so close to the action. You know, being able to experience live sports frequently during the season.
However it took me years to realize it, but being around upwards of 100K people in a venue was often too much of a stressor for my nervous system.
And it wasn’t just the humans that played a part here either; it was also the decibel level from the state of the art stadium sound systems, as well as the constant swarming of lights and overall heightened atmospheric noise levels.
I still do absolutely love going to different concerts and sporting events, but it’s imperative for me to be well prepared beforehand.
I have to spend quite a bit of time in solitude and make sure my daily practices of quieting the mind (through meditation) and loosening the body (through yoga) are done, otherwise I absorb too much of the excessive energy permeated from these environments.
There’s many other traits or characteristics (outside of the5 listed) that can help you even better illuminate if you happen to be a highly sensitive person.
However if you found yourself more times than not shaking your head up and down while reading this (as well as scoring higher than 14 on the HSP test) then there’s a great chance that you happen to be one yourself.
Self-care, solitude, and boundaries are as important as water is to the human body for not only survival, but to actually thrive.
If a light bulb went off for you after reading this and you have additional questions or would like more help in taking care of your most prized possession, please feel free to send me an e-mail to brandon@brandonbennett.com. I’d love to hear your feedback and see if there’s a way I could support you on taking your next best step.
With Love,
Brandon