Have you ever told yourself that you are too sensitive ? It seems that things affect you more than they affect others. Do you react extremely negatively when someone makes a passing comment about you, whether it’s your hairstyle, a silly mistake you made or your choice of degree?
If the answer’s a hesitant “yes”, there’s no need to worry. Being sensitive is good as it’s part of emotional intelligence.
“Never apologize for being sensitive. Showing your emotions is a sign of strength, not weakness. “
– Brigitte Nicole-
People with this emotional hypersensitivity have like a sixth sense, a very developed degree of empathy thanks to which they manage to recognize different emotions in others. For example, if someone is suffering, they will see it before everyone else, and if a person is not happy, they will also know it.
The problem is that it affects them personally; since they feel more things than others, they appropriate the suffering of others. This is the reason why, very often, emotionally hypersensitive people are characterized by an emotional impulsivity which surprises those around them.
You’re likely wondering if you or someone you know are highly sensitive. The following are the most common qualities that highly sensitive people possess. See how many apply.
1. Your General Emotions Are More Extreme
Being sensitive doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re the type of person who cries all the time, but that your emotions are just a little bit more heightened than other people’s. “In general, we are looking for levels of emotion that seem drastically different from the average person experiencing the same environmental stimulation. Extreme experiences like laughing much louder and longer than the other people in the comedy club, or crying more intensely than your friends watching the same sad movie,” says director of clinical health psychology and founder of our new Health Psychology & Wellness Center at Behavioral Associates Dr. Michele Barton in an interview
2. You think deeply.
When life throws you a curveball, you retreat deep into your shell, thinking through every aspect of what transpired before taking any action. Small things (in your own life and other people’s lives) can have a big impact on you.
3. You Constantly Overwork Yourself
Highly sensitive people in the workplace tend to take on more than they can chew without realizing it, and because of this, burn out quicker than most. “This sensitivity and empathy can result in the sensitive person taking on too many responsibilities as to overcompensate for the lack of attention/initiative shown by low sensitivity people. This can create a situation in which a highly sensitive person is unable to self-regulate due to over-working and an inability to prioritized self-care over professional goals (I’ve seen this in clients…far too often),” says Barton.
4. You take longer to reach decisions.
Since you’re prone to dig deep beneath the surface, you tend to drag out decisions. You can’t help but try to run every possible outcome through your head, and this is often at the expense of the ticking clock.
5. You’re crushed by bad decisions.
When you finally make a decision, and it turns out to be a poor choice, you take it much harder than most. This can create a vicious cycle that slows down your decision-making process even more, as fear of making a bad decision is part of what slows you down in the first place.
6. You Communicate Well With Others
The cool thing about being more in touch with your feelings is that you can normally easily connect with others.”Functionally sensitive people are known to be organized, thoughtful, reflective, not impulsive, with good personal boundaries, and great people skills. They are organized, considerate, empathic, and motivated to succeed, all qualities that usually contribute to optimized performance in many work environments,” says Barton.
7. Open offices drive you crazy
Your sensitivity to other people, loud noises, and other stimuli makes it practically impossible for you to work effectively in an open-office environment. You’re better off in a cube or working from home.
8. You Tend To Attack The Person Rather Than Fix The Issue
The bad thing about being overly sensitive? You tend to attack people when you’re frustrated instead of working on the problem together. “When you get upset, you attack the person and not the issue. You say things you do not mean, as you want them to feel as bad as you. You take things that people say as feedback in the worst possible way, never allowing for the fact that it could come from a good place and place of growth,” says psychologist Nicole Martinez, Psy.D., LCPC in an interview with Bustle over email.
Bringing It All Together
Like many things in life, being a highly sensitive person is both a blessing and a curse. It all comes down to what you make of it.
Find more signs in this video:
