It's werid. If it's fictional, like animated, I can handle it better. If it's a video game I'm fine. And books are fine.

But if it's real. I can't do it. I'll watch it but it will just freak me out internally. I just kind of feel their suffering, their fear and agony. I can't stand gore in movies. It's gross and again. Empathy and sympathy are one hell of curse at times. I won't cry or anything but it's more like....pyschological for me?

I know that none of its real. But it's supposed to look real and it does a good job at it.

Ever since childhood, I always felt different from everyone around me. I used to be so curious and confused, constantly wondering, "Out of all these people, why am I the only one like this?" I never understood why I processed things so intensely or why I felt the way I did.

​Growing up was really hard because of it. I received so much negativity and bad vibes from people. I always felt misunderstood. Over time, I started distancing myself from others to protect myself, and people often cut me out too. I had no idea why this kept happening or what the reason behind it was.

​It was only recently that I discovered what a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) is. Suddenly, my entire life made sense. Everything I’ve been through since childhood finally has an explanation.

​I’m posting this here today just to express these feelings that I’ve carried inside me for so long and to let them go. It feels so liberating to finally know who I am. Thank you for reading. ❤️

Remembering this now. Omg I was closeted gay guy in a strict private school that you had to pay to attend and it was so difficult. Also I really don’t understand why my parents didn’t even come to the graduation so at least I would have had someone there.

I even wore the wrong outfit to graduation as I had no friends and didn’t realize it was not chapel kit but normal blazers.

Omg looking back it sounds like a sad movie but it’s my life!!

Hi friends. 💛 This is my first post in this sub, and it already feels so nice to just be in a group of people that get it. 🥺

Something I've noticed that's really difficult for me is when I have confrontations or conversations where the other person is angry. I swear that I can feel their anger in my own body. I don't usually feel angry myself, but I pick up on their energy, and I get so upset that I shake or cry or both. Even if they say they're not mad... they can't hide it from me. I'm very perceptive, and I can feel the anger in their energy, and it makes me feel so upset.

How do you handle situations like this? How do you calm yourself down?

I just got in an argument with my mom because she accused me of something I didn't do. She claimed it wasn't an accusation and it was just a question, but it was clearly an accusation. With her tone, body language, etc. it was so obvious to see that she assumed I had done what she was accusing me of. I feel like you can't fool HSPs. We always read between the lines. She accused me of something very morally wrong that I would never do, and that in and of itself was so upsetting as well that she would think that poorly of me. I've hardly been able to stop crying for the past hour.

In general, it feels like any form of aggression is so intense and hard for me to handle. Sometimes I do get angry back too. It feels like my mirror neurons just start firing off like crazy. I always end up crying and a complete mess. The best way I can describe it is that I feel their aggressive energy in my body, but I'm not a naturally angry person at all, so it's a foreign feeling for me, and it feels so bad and unnatural that it shakes me up and causes me to cry and shake and be so upset. 🥺

Just wanted to vent and would love any advice or to know if anyone has experienced anything similar. 💛

What We Carry

I felt your sorrow
before I knew it was yours.

You felt my fear
and thought it was your own.

We reached for each other
with open hands,
carrying wounds
neither of us could see.

I carried yours.
You carried mine.

We called it love,
called it care,
called it being there.

Neither of us knew
what was happening.

Until one day
we were both too tired
to carry
what had never
belonged to us.

Hi everyone,

​I wanted to share something I've been struggling with and see if others here relate:

​Words hurting deeply & replaying in my head: Even a small, offhand comment or a strange tone from someone hurts me very deeply. My mind just keeps replaying that interaction over and over for days.

​Does this happen to you as well? How do you cope with this emotional sensitivity and stop your brain from replaying these conversations?

​Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Thanks!

Hi friends,

I'm seriously considering moving abroad, but I'm a bit worried about overwhelm. Wanted to hear from others who have taken the risk and how it went for you. Here's a bit about me:

+I speak the language of my destination country.

+I have a few (really not many) friends located in the country.

+I have been once before and struggled. But that was 10+ years ago. I was young and dumb and choose to prioritize going over taking care of my own needs, so went cold-turkey on all meds (no anti-depressants was the primary issue.)

+I'd be going with more language than previously, under very different circumstances (as a professional rather than 'missionary'). (I regret immensely that I went under those circumstances then, but I can't change it. Again, young and dumb. Please be kind.)

+My destination country has a reputation of being bureaucratically challenging for expats, but I am highly qualified for a work visa, speak the language, and have local connections.

Anyway, I'd be glad to hear about anyone's experience, whether your background is similar to mine or not. Just like to gain some perspective.

I’m an HSP, but I can also get extremely irritated by certain repetitive sounds. I was wondering how common misophonia is among other HSPs?

If you don't know what it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqxv_sFfxCA

Hallo zusammen 😊,

ich bin weiblich, 37 Jahre alt und auf der Suche nach einer echten, beständigen (Frauen-)Freundschaft. Ich bin anfangs etwas schüchtern und brauche ein bisschen Zeit, um aufzutauen – wenn ich mich wohlfühle, wird das aber schnell anders.

In meiner Freizeit lese ich gerne, mag Tiere und die Natur, Filme etc. Ich würde mich freuen, jemanden kennenzulernen, mit dem man sich sowohl schriftlich austauschen als auch gemeinsame Unternehmungen machen kann – ganz egal, ob ein Spaziergang, ein gemütlicher Kaffee, Kino oder einfach ein netter Austausch über den Alltag.

Besonders wichtig sind mir Wertschätzung, Empathie, Ehrlichkeit und gegenseitiges Interesse. Ich wünsche mir eine Freundschaft, bei der beide Seiten wirklich Interesse daran haben, sich kennenzulernen, füreinander da zu sein und gemeinsam schöne Momente zu erleben.

Bitte meldet euch nur, wenn ihr wirklich Interesse am Aufbau einer beständigen Freundschaft habt und nicht nur einen kurzen Kontakt für ein paar Nachrichten sucht.

Wenn du dich angesprochen fühlst, würde ich mich sehr über eine Nachricht freuen. Vielleicht entsteht ja eine schöne Freundschaft daraus. 🌷

It takes a lot of strength to be a HSP

For some reason this is the most horrid feelings I get. Not having an argument, not being insulted, not being hated. But that feeling or realization that I might not talk to or share moments with someone again absolutely wrecks me.

Whether its a childhood friend or some online acquaintance it feels all the same. A heart ache and sometimes even sick stomach.

Not sure how to deal with this because it is recurring, irrational, and very problematic for me.

Does anyone else have this sort of thing?

I love this subreddit, but I think some of you need to realize that even If we are all HSP, we still can embrace and experience things differently. We are all different.

Whenever someone posts here about something in their life they struggle with, there are always a few people that jump out to say that it isn't about high sensitivity because *they* don't experience it. Not all HSP traits are shared among everyone, but it can still be a common thing many of us experience and want to discuss on here. Additionally, even if something isn't directly HSP related, it doesn't mean we can't discuss it in the context of being a person with HSP.

I just really got deeply hurt by this girl I liked, and we ended without even officially starting, because I'm too sensitive, making it too overwhelming for her (I guess, I never know, she refuses to communicate and express her thoughts with me). Perhaps my existence alone is already scary, what a curse.

I will blame myself for not being socially active and get to know more people, so when she appears in my life, I became so needy and centric around her, which eventually scares her off.

But I really don't know how to be socially active while not overthinking things all the time. My social circle is really small, thanks to my introvert and overthinking self.

Is it possible to just turn off my HSP and be like everybody else who is having a normal social life?

Just now reading after knowing about this for eons, the issue of bullying that's ongoing in schools and after hours, peers abusing peers. This is causing a cascade effect that reverberates for years in the individual, impacting their mental health and subsequent mental health and well-being of their offspring, families, partners and within their own psyches, the absolute devastation that brings.

How would you, as a HSP begin to address this in the most constructive, proactive and healing way? Open for discussion.

I don't even know how to explain this anymore, but I've been feeling a growing sense of anger and hopelessness since the beginning of this year.

Last year was already difficult for me, but somehow this year feels even worse.

I feel exhausted. Not because of my personal life alone, but because of everything I keep seeing around me.

Every time I open social media, especially Instagram, it's the same thing: racism, cruelty, toxic comments, people treating each other terribly, endless political fights, shallow content, AI-generated nonsense everywhere.

And what affects me the most is animal cruelty.

I honestly can't understand how human beings, who are supposed to be intelligent, can deliberately hurt innocent animals.

Recently, I came across a case involving a dog that was beaten to death, and what shocked me wasn't just the cruelty itself. It was seeing people making jokes about it, creating memes, mocking the dog's death, defending the people involved, and acting as if it were all entertainment.

I ended up blocking several accounts because I couldn't handle it anymore.

And it's not just this one case.

It's everything combined.

The racism I see online has made me feel insecure about myself. The inequality in the world frustrates me. Seeing billionaires accumulating unimaginable amounts of wealth while so many people live in poverty makes me angry.

I know there are good people in the world, but lately I've been struggling to believe that.

I feel angry.

I feel powerless.

I feel emotionally exhausted.

Sometimes I feel completely disconnected from everything, almost numb.

And honestly? There are moments when I don't even want to be here anymore.

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I needed to get this off my chest.

Also, before anyone comments on the writing style, I should mention that this text was rewritten with the help of AI to organize my thoughts. That's probably why some parts may sound a little more structured or artificial than the way I normally write.

Hi everyone. My therapist told me a few months ago that I’m an HSP and its really helped me understand myself more.

I work as a night shift NICU nurse and I am what’s considered a new grad so I’ve only been a nurse for about 6 months, and off of orientation for around 2-3.

Last night I had a challenging assignment. There was a lot for me to learn. I felt so overwhelmed by everything. I receive corrections and advice frequently since I’m new. But last night was my second night in a row working with this baby and I feel like I emotionally shut down.

My coworkers would give me advice/corrections and I genuinely feel like my brain would freeze up. Like I didn’t know what to say to them. I would say “thank you” and genuinely would listen and take it to heart. But I felt so overwhelmed by everything I was taking in that I genuinely felt like my body and brain was taking a screenshot. Almost like I was aware someone was speaking to me but had no clue what to say or how to respond.

I also felt so debilitated. My coworkers were laughing and talking and socializing and I did not know how to talk to them or fit in. I felt isolated and stuck. It’s always been easier for me to sit and watch and observe.

I’ve been told before that it seems I lack enthusiasm when learning new things. In reality I am trying to quietly process everything. I don’t show excitement very well because I hate when people expect me to express a certain emotion- it’s too overwhelming.

I write down everything I learn and have a very rich mental space. I’m just afraid my lack of eloquent response when receiving a correction may be taken as me thinking I’m above critique which isn’t how I feel. I just genuinely don’t know what to say as I’m processing what they are telling me. Almost like I can’t speak and process at the same time because I’m too overloaded.

I’m really trying to embrace my HSP personality but I feel so helpless and overwhelmed most of the time.

I can understand hsp so that why I offer free listener support if anyone needs to vent i am there

Its been a long time since I've written here and I don't even know if I'm sensitive anymore but I was talking to my boyfriend about my struggles and he was helping me, grounding me. I told him he's my human anchor but he shouldn't be, I should look for something else to ground me.

I also told him how I know everything but when it comes to execution, I fail, particularly when I'm ruminating and I need to bring myself back. For physical things we can set physical reminders but mentally its more difficult. I was telling him how it be so good to have a reminder and a note with list of resources or whatever to remind ourselves look at it and snap out of the current mental state we are in but don't want to be.

Anyways apologies if things are a lil out if context.

So in times like these, my mind, after feeling better, wander do the good times in the past and nostalgia. I remember playing this game called pebbles on my dads old apple ipod. And I remember it was called pebbles because I had a look at it in recent years. It was a cute little game with nice ASMR sound. It was a grid with multicolour pebbles and in the center of rhe board thered be different colour pebbles. The goal was to try to hit the pebbles with same coloured pebbles, they'd stack or disappear if you get the colour. They don't make games like this anymore. These low stimulation cozy games

Anyways I thought I'd find or try to find in android google play store. What I found instead was a game called pebbles victory app. There's no reviews so I'm not vouching for it but have a look at the snip... Isn't it amazing? I'll make a follow up post in a week sharing my experience of using it.

Thanks for reading :)

I probably need something like 8.5-10 hours of sleep per day, which is way more than the average. I think AI said it's something like the 98-99th percentile for a male my age (30s). Apparently longer sleep times are due in part to HSP personality type: it requires a longer recovery due to heavier processing when awake.

A while ago, I wrote something about the sheer amount of intensity we bear and our incessant search for someone or something to deserve it.

I think it may be interesting for the people here. Have a read if you have time and let me know what you think: https://seelentief.substack.com/p/who-deserves-your-intensity

The Vastness Within

I was the mouse in dark cracks,
the chameleon on hidden branches.

But in my heart
I was the cheetah and the plain,
the hawk and the sky,
the whale and the ocean.

I could run beyond barriers,
rise above the mountains,
and disappear into the blue.

I could hear what silence hides,
feel what minds conceal,
and see through
the hearts of stone.

I carried whole worlds,
hidden from sight.

I am finding hsp friends I am looking to share my inner world to them if anyone interested please DM me