A Highly Sensitive Person's Life
When you feel joy, discomfort, emotions, and empathy intensely
The number one thing people search for on this site is jobs and careers for HSPs.
Many of us want to change our career to something more fulfilling and with less stress. And we see loads of success stories from other people who have learned to leverage their skills to make money working for themselves, freelancing, or starting an online business.
But how do you get started? [Read more…]
When you look back at your life, what little memories can you recall where you were made to feel guilty, inadequate, dumb, or unsuccessful about being introverted or highly sensitive?
As a child, I remember being told to “speak up”, “participate more”, “go play with the other kids”, “stop being so shy”, and “get your head out of your book”.
A stock photo of a house party.
I thought I was better at parties.
My husband and I have a number of “couple friends”, i.e., other couples who are our friends. We’ve known them for years, we hang out regularly, and I enjoy spending time with them. Whenever we went to parties, inevitably, some of those same couples were there. Good times. [Read more…]
The Social Anxiety / Shyness / Introvert / HSP Gym has dividers between every treadmill, every stationary bike, and every weight bench-kind of like cubicles. There is an indicator light above each machine area to let you know if it’s occupied.
The gym has an app where you can see how many people are currently at the gym. Fifty people are working out right now? Hmm, I’ll just wait until later. [Read more…]
Introversion and high sensitivity often get lumped together. It’s estimated that 70% of HSPs are introverts (source), so I can see how it is easy to get them confused. If you aren’t sure of the difference, hopefully this post will help make things a bit clearer.
Introversion is all about energy. When introverts are around people, they expend energy. Extroverts, on the other hand, gain energy from being around people. That doesn’t mean introverts dislike social settings-just that it takes energy from them, and they will likely need to limit their social time or seek recuperation later on. [Read more…]
I saw something worth sharing on the Introvert subreddit on Reddit today.
Someone asked how to explain being an introvert to her boyfriend. She didn’t know how to get him to understand that she needed alone time, and that he shouldn’t take it personally.
The reply of what she should say to him is in the head graphic here.
This is so on-point! There are times when my husband and I are in the same room but we are doing different things-maybe I’m using the computer and he’s watching TV. I shouldn’t be thinking about his feelings, but I can’t help it. I’m wondering if he’s hungry or if he’s going to want to go out later, or things like that.
The only time I’m free from having to think about someone else is when I’m completely alone.
This recent quote I read from Emma Watson makes me like her a whole lot.
“Have you seen Quiet by Susan Cain? … It discusses how [extroverts] in our society are bigged up so much, and if you’re anything other than an [extrovert] you’re made to think there’s something wrong with you. That’s like the story of my life. Coming to realize that about myself was very empowering, because I had felt like Oh my god, there must be something wrong with me, because I don’t want to go out and do what all my friends want to do.” source
Thank you, Emma, for this!
Reading Quiet changed my life, too. I had to exact same revelation-there is NOT something wrong with me for being the way I am. The same goes for being an HSP. You are normal, just a different kind of “normal”! It’s the definition of “normal” that’s wrong.
Simply learning about what it means to be an HSP can change the way you see yourself and your place within the world.
