Many years ago I read “The Highly Sensitive Person” by Elaine Aron. I recognized myself in it. Nonetheless, I don’t think I fully appreciated how this much character trait shows up in my life until recently.*
As a reminder, here are common traits of highly sensitive people, or HSPs:
Source: Forbes
- Being easily overwhelmed by bright lights, loud noises, strong smells and coarse textures
- Avoiding violent entertainment, such as movies, television shows and video games
- Feeling a strong need to retreat to a dark, private space to find solace during a busy day
- Noticing and having an elevated appreciation for art, food, scents, nature or sounds
- Having a rich and complex relationship with one’s self
- Being identified by others, especially in youth, as shy or sensitive
I shall examine myself in relation to each trait:
- Being easily overwhelmed by bright lights, loud noises, strong smells and coarse textures
I am definitely sensitive to loud noises. I tend to crave silence, or low volume places. I can easily get overwhelmed by loud noises. I have even worn ear plugs in everyday situations. I find it gives me a comforting buffer from the world around me.
- Avoiding violent entertainment, such as movies, television shows and video games
This tends to be true. I usually watch movies that are upbeat, imaginative, clever… though I also have watched a fair amount of superhero or action/adventure type movies, which tend to have a high body count of bloodless bad guys. Freddy Kreuger had a hold on my childhood imagination, though that probably adds to the case for being highly sensitive. I also read a lot of Stephen King in the past, though I usually avoided the movies themselves.
On a related note, I generally avoid the news unless it is investment or business related. I tend to find the news too skewed toward the negative and sensationalized.
- Feeling a strong need to retreat to a dark, private space to find solace during a busy day
This is definitely true. I felt it today after we went shopping at Macy’s. It was a sort of craving: “Please, please, please, let me go home so I can be alone and find my happy again.”
- Noticing and having an elevated appreciation for art, food, scents, nature or sounds
Uh… duh!
- Having a rich and complex relationship with one’s self
I think a personal blog with over 1000 posts pretty much says it all.
- Being identified by others, especially in youth, as shy or sensitive
Yes, and I always hated it, but I can see how I appeared that way. I was definitely always checking out the environment. Many times, I wasn’t sure if I could trust it. Hence I was reserved, or what is commonly called “shy.”
*In fact, I took this self-scored test on high-sensitivity and scored 23 out of 27, meaning that YES, you could say I am pretty darn highly-sensitive!