I’ve known for 4 or 5 years now. Honestly can’t remember where, maybe my therapist told me? Or a few friends who also work in the home space, who are fellow HSPs.
I came by it honest- both my paternal grandmama and mom are HSPs, possibly my sister and aunt too, whether they have/had awareness themselves I’m unsure. HSPs get along very well with other HSPs, because we share alot of the same sensitivities that most of the world doesn’t understand. I was my grandmamas favorite partly because we could both read all day in the quiet happily.
As a child it manifested in more physical ways. Being extremely shy, always pulling off the stirrup on my stirrup leggings (remember those?), hating the feeling of socks, tight jeans or tights. Growing up, I was primarily in an environment that wasn’t emotionally aware or prepared for my needs, so I largely shut off my emotions completely to protect myself. It wasn’t until adulthood that I had the freedom and emotional safety to explore.
For me, being an HSP manifests as:
getting very frustrated by a chaotic trip to the grocery
asking why are they so loud, why are they honking at me, lots of questions and not understanding why so many humans are unable to control their volume or intense energy levels
visual overstimulation in going into more than 3 stores in a row
mental and physical exhaustion after multiple client appointments or several phone calls, zooms or facetimes in one day
being stressed by traffic noises, kids or adults yelling, screaming etc
driving in a busy downtown area (partly due to my vision issues)
being highly annoyed by loud people in the airport or any public space where I HAVE to be
being completely emotionally shutdown and honed in to a highly emotional or loud pair or group at a restaurant
speaking at large groups, weddings, networking events are all terrifying
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