A highly sensitive person (HSP) has a very sensitive nervous system. We perceive and process things around us with our nervous system. The sensitive nervous system perceives the data too much and processes the data deeply.
The data is stimuli in our environment we collect with our five sense organs. When an HSP collected too much data without processing/digesting the previous ones, she would crash like the laptop freezes when you do too many things at the same time. Therefore, the core check is all about processing the data collected by an HSP.
An HSP needs to be careful about the data around her. Sounds, lights, smells, flavors, and touches are the data we perpetually perceive in our daily lives. Being in a very noisy environment or in a very lighted-up environment means collecting so much data for an HSP nervous system.
So, the first check is the stimuli in the environment. Try to focus on what you hear, see, smell, taste, and touch. Beware that, you become tired if you perceive so many stimuli.
An HSP needs to stay alone for some time every day. I read somewhere that highly sensitive people are like radars and the shiniest object caught by radar are other people. Therefore, the sensitive nervous system is playing its biggest role in human relations.
As human beings, we are social creatures who affect each other. The words of other people, according to proximity degree, may cause our day wonderful or terrible since the words are coming from another nervous system after some process. We try to give meanings to the words by counting everything between the other person and us till now.
People who are more sensitive in image and sound processing can easily notice people’s voice tones, gestures, the subtleties of the words they use, feelings such as affection, love, anger, disgust, pain, and sadness. An HSP would understand a person who says I’m okay but doesn’t actually feel well, maybe only from eyes.
So, after having some time with other people, it is crucial to digest the collected data staying alone for several hours every day.
An HSP must learn how to charge herself. Charging yourself is to give yourself some time to rest. In other words, it is cooling the engine of the machine. Everyone can find her own rest method. Here are some common methods: Taking a shower, listening to a piece of slow music, walking, reading a book, watching the sky, birds, and far away, sitting outdoors, and feeling the gentle wind…
Besides these relaxing and resting methods, it is important to be in a good condition physically. Regular and good sleep, food, and sports are very crucial.
Making a plan helps an HSP a lot. Highly sensitive people are able to think about issues deeply. If you have so many issues in your mind, it would be very exhausting to cope with all of them at the same. You can feel freezing like a computer. Addressing problems one by one helps you solving them better without crashing. Therefore, it is important to make a plan before you start doing a job.
An HSP must recognize herself and that not all people are sensitive. Not all people are good at catching details in life. A word meaning would differ for sensitive people and non-sensitive ones. Being aware that other people are not able to analyze words like an HSP, help sensitive people to hurt less.
It is important to know that 80% of people are not HSP and that is why most people can’t understand the needs of an HSP. Don’t think that how terrible that he is shouting at me, to him, it would be normal to talk shouting. If you assume that all people are seeing details like you, it is easier to be hurt by other people.
You would also think that people are bad and rude because of their behaviors. However, people are not bad but they don’t really think, they can’t think. They might have good intentions, but they can’t see the subtleties you see. That’s why they live more roughly.
Trying to be understanding for other people in terms of they can’t think details and they can’t understand delicate needs would help an HSP feel better.
To sum up, highly sensitive people have a very sensitive nervous system. Since they recognize details of life, they perceive stimuli more than other people.
There are many advantages of this nervous system when you think of it as a smartphone; very functional but the battery runs out quickly. Therefore, it is important not to perform many things at the same time, that is not to perceive so much data at the same time or not to think about many issues at the same time.
Additionally, it is crucial to take care of the battery by resting with your own methods. Don’t forget that other people are the shiniest objects on your radar and they don’t see life as you do.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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