5 Battles Every Highly Sensitive Person Has to Fight

According to studies, about 20% of the population is highly sensitive. This designation covers emotional, mental, and physical sensitivity. Most highly sensitive people do not respond well to medications, cannot tolerate much caffeine or alcohol. Changes to their environment can cause physical pain as well as mental. Additionally, HSP’s are also empathetic. They tune into the emotions of others. While they feel their own emotions deeply, highly sensitive people also tap into the deeper streams in others as well.

For example, a highly sensitive person can tell if another is uncomfortable. He or she will instinctively know what to do to help them become more comfortable. Highly sensitive people often withdraw because this connection to others can be exhausting. I realized that I am highly sensitive rather late in life. You would think it might have dawned on me earlier. I earned an MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Poetry. I am a card-carrying, highly sensitive person.

To be an HSP is to be in constant conflict with the world, I have decided. Your decisions seem arbitrary and even stubborn to others who are less sensitive. And on a side note, being highly sensitive is not a disorder or a diagnosis. It is a personality trait. The world needs both sensitive individuals as well as those who can experience difficult things with less agony. To be an HSP or not isn’t a matter of good or bad. My point here is that everyone benefits from understanding that when an HSP says no, it is for a good reason. My gifting in prayer ministry, and these blogs, would not be as acute without some of my HSP traits.

Highly Sensitive Battle #1: I really can’t watch that show.

For HSP’s, violence and horrible images stay for a long time. It took me fifteen years to finally clear the images from the only horror movie I ever watched. Movies about the Holocaust leave me wrecked for days. Pictures of abused animals, announcements of missing children, and other such media posts are devastating to me. I love to watch those stories where wonderful people rescue animals or sacrifice themselves for others, but I cry all the way through.

I feel things very deeply, though, like most highly sensitive people, I rarely show it. The actual pain in the world is something I pray over and wrestle with every day. I can’t withstand it in my entertainment as well. So if you or someone you know doesn’t want to watch the latest thriller, respect that. It is as much fun to an HSP as being stuck with needles.

HSP Battle #2: I really can’t eat that (but when I need to eat, I need to eat).

Highly sensitive people, because their nervous system is just somehow more delicate or perhaps exposed, get hangry pretty easily. Interestingly, HSP’s tend to have issues with blood sugar more often than not. So while my husband can go all day without eating, I’m lightheaded by 10 am. Regular infusions of protein are necessary for my emotional and physical well-being. I envy my husband in this regard. I have passed out due to low blood sugar. He just gets hungry.

But tied to this is what we eat. Often, highly sensitive people are picky, a trait generally disapproved of in modern America. I think of it this way. For some people, their taste buds translate cilantro as soap. It tastes terrible to them. I once argued with a man for whom this was true. It tasted awful to him, and he could not believe it didn’t objectively taste terrible. But it doesn’t. I love it. He could not believe that it tasted different to me than it did him. If you have an HSP in your life, if they say something tastes terrible to them and they cannot eat it, they aren’t stubborn. Don’t make them fight for the right to choose what they eat. For me, runny egg whites, eggplant, escargot, kimchi, and alcohol don’t taste good. Nothing anyone says will stop me from feeling queasy when they are forced on me.

Highly Sensitive Battle #3: I can’t wear that.

If only I could explain how many times I forced myself to wear something uncomfortable because it was a gift or on sale. Finally, I have rebelled. Everything I wear must be soft against my skin—some wool I can tolerate. Polyester is generally a no go. It suffocates me. Bamboo is pretty awesome. Even from the time I was a child, uncomfortable clothes mean that I cannot concentrate on anything but my discomfort. I wore a pair of pretty shoes that wore down the backs of my heels. Two days later, I was in an emergency room with red streaks up my legs. People have different reactions to different stimuli. Be kind to those whose nerve endings act up in ways that are inconvenient or hard to understand.

Highly Sensitive Battle #4: I can’t listen to that.

I am so sensitive to noise. Not just noise but bright lights affect me as well. Loud music, a blaring television, or a room full of crowded people don’t send me into the corner, rocking back and forth. But they will exhaust me quickly. Anxiety begins to surface, and then I get irritable, unable to think about anything but escaping. I am an ambivert, which puts me in the minority of HSP’s. Up to 70% of them are introverts. I have no problem speaking in front of groups. I love it. But I need recovery time.

I am also an intense listener. That is how I learn. So when too many sounds are competing for my attention, I can’t concentrate. If there is a highly sensitive person in your life, make sure they have a sanctuary. Otherwise, they will have a hard time resting and managing their anxiety.

HSP Battle #5: It really does hurt.

It is kind of funny how most doctors consider me to have a high threshold for pain. But like most highly sensitive people, I suffer the way an injured animal does. I hole up in a corner and live with it. It takes all of my concentration to focus on surviving. I got through four labors without pain meds. I currently have seven bulging discs but can take no pain meds because they gave me an ulcer. God, in His mercy, has given me space to work in utter quiet. In seclusion and silence, I can handle the pain.

But highly sensitive people often do not react well to medication or other chemicals. Opioids plunge me into depression. One glass of wine burns my stomach. Tide causes welts on my skin. Navigating these inconveniences is a pain, but having to justify them is worse.

I suppose that is what inspired this particular blog post. The real battle of the Highly Sensitive Person is the constant justification to a world that can wait all day for dinner, wear shoes despite a blister, eat whatever it wants, and generally throw itself into the lovely cacophony of a busy and bright world. But the world needs quiet places, serenity, and deep empathy as much as it needs boisterous parties, booming thunderstorms, and earsplitting drum solos. Just know that we, the HSP’s of the tranquil spaces aren’t faking it.

Highly Sensitive Person Self Test

Take this test if you think you may be highly sensitive. There is one for your children too if you suspect they are highly sensitive.

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