HSPs can feel uncomfortable when they become the center of attention.
Everything relates back to biology. The word “sensitive” refers to the 5 senses, which are designed for the life form to utilize for survival. As a highly sensitive person you are particularly sensitive to your environment, and may spent your childhood sensing your outer circumstances and other people in order to adapt your behavior to suit the environment. Fundamentally, the HSP does this in order to “survive.” Reading peoples energy and acting accordingly leads to hyper-awareness and vigilance to environmental factors because it is the brain’s way of making sure it is safe.
Because the HSP is adept to look for other people’s needs in their environment and undervalue/repress their own, they are accustom to giving away their power to other people. Within this dynamic, they are comfortable, even though it is imbalanced. Due to this, they may feel extremely uncomfortable being given that power from others. As an HSP, you might have been petrified of having to do things like public speaking or opening gifts in front of extending family. You might have been the type that was happy to pass up a birthday party for more intimate celebration. For HSPs, it can take more time to develop intrinsic confidence, self-reliance and self trust, which is why grounding practices such as breath work are critical. (For HSPs, the root chakra is often imbalanced because it is associated with these foundational principles - tell yourself, “I am okay” until you believe it). However, this is also what makes an HSP unstoppable.
They are usually ambiverted.
HSPs tend to love being around other people, and enjoy being social, having close relationships in their lives. However, HSPs need time alone to moderate their emotional state, so that they can bring their best to bonds with others. When around people, they sense and feel people’s energy to a degree that is much higher than average. Because they naturally expend more energy during interaction, it takes more energy for HSPs to be around other people generally. They find it harder to “block out” the emotions other people give off, so they need time alone to center themselves within their own energy field. Being grounded into their own energy allows HSPs to interact with the outside world and make sure it is a positive experience. This is why alone time and actively tending to their needs/self care practices daily is critical.
They have overactive nervous systems.
Because HSPs absorb and are able to sense energies all around them, their internal regulatory systems tend to be very active/reactive. HSPs, without conscious grounding/shielding efforts, will absorb and deflect everything others are not willing or able to feel. They are like lightning rods. With a surplus of energy in the environment, the emotional and mental energy field absorb and process those energies, and so does the physical body. With energy flow abundant in and around them, the physical body has to work overtime to regulate. HSPs tend to be people that produce a lot of sweat, have dietary and seasonal allergies, material sensitivities (ex. laundry detergent), and the tendency to blush easily. Having to be very conscious of the energy you absorb from other people takes a lot of energy in itself, which is why it is important for HSPs to know how to shield their energy fields. When alone, it can be very helpful for HSPs to have their environment controlled to their liking and be surrounded by things that support their energetic equilibrium (ex. salt lamps to absorb excess energy). Having a comfortable, safe space where their preferences are present allows for HSPs to interact smoothly with the world.
They have an “original wound” that relates to their sensitivity.
Typically, when HSPs are young, they experienced dynamics that awakened their sensitivity to energy. Everyone has an original wound that will create a need for some kind of inner work to take place later on. For HSPs, the origin is usually from people/situations in their life that made them feel inadequate, incompetent or inherently different in an unfavorable way. “You’re too sensitive” is often the narrative HSPs get in adolescents (this leads the HSP to feel their emotional experience is invalid, creating issues with self esteem). The reason this happens is because HSPs are inclined to absorb and acknowledge, even without their conscious uptake, the feelings and emotions that others produce, but are unwilling to address. Because of this, the HSP is a source of criticism for the people in the environment that are doing the deflecting. Consciousness that their unique sensitivity is a gift does not arise until later in life.
They can be misunderstood by others.
Depending on the individual, people might think that HSPs are cold when initially getting to know them or upon their first impression. Normally this is quite the opposite. Every individual person carries unique energies, and are like their own little universe. They say that your energy introduces you before you do, and for HSPs, their experience of others could not be more true to that statement. Even upon first interactions, HSPs can get a sense your coding and idea of your internal modality. Because HSPs can “sense” your energy, they can take a little bit longer to warm up to people and leave others perceiving them as inscrutable. This is because for them, it is important to get a sense of a person’s intentions/value systems. They want to know you are worth their energy expenditure, because if not, opening their energy field to a friendship or relationship with someone can be extremely taxing for them. More often than not, the HSP will have to learn this one the hard way.
HSPs process, carry and interpret events, situations and emotions differently.
When an HSP is exposed to strong emotional circumstances in life, they process through a more analytic filter than others. Because of this, it takes HSPs longer to “get over” things like breakups, arguments, and anything with emotional charge that impacts their emotional state. It takes longer for energies from things of this nature to be filtered out for a few reasons. They can intuit things about the experience that other people might overlook or even not be conscious of. They download things in a detailed way because their emotional perceptivity functions at a heightened ability. Often they are prone to feelings of loneliness because when they express how they feel, other people may not be able to empathize with how they feel. Their grasp on emotional activity is higher, so they don’t always feel heard. It is important for HSPs to have people in their life that can be adequate mirrors and listen to them. If not, they can go through life feeling unvalidated, isolated and have symptoms of depression.
*Zodiac placements (particularly sun/moon combinations of any two) that might be more prone to HSP abilities are Cancer, Virgo, Taurus, Leo and Pisces.