The Magic of High Sensitivity

June 8, 2022

Life as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)

The Chrysalis Effect is a neurodivergent and HSP aware business.

Highly sensitive people, or ‘sensitive processing sensitivity’ is a personality trait that involves increased sensitivity of the central nervous system and deeper cognitive processing of emotional, social and physical stimuli.

People with sensory processing sensitivity can be overwhelmed easily, as they have more stimuli to digest. Evolutionarily, the trait evolved so some people could look out for danger for the tribe, around 20% of people have this trait. This trait also exists in animals including horses, lemurs and zebras.

There are lots of ways that high sensitivity can play out for different people, as it is on a spectrum. For me and some of my highly sensitive friends, it can show up as:

Becoming overstimulated by environments, sounds, emotions & textures
Being hyper aware of the emotions of those around us
Needing alone time often and a lot of time in nature to recharge

Without taking time to regulate our nervous system, we can easily become burnt out. This can be tricky when we start to compare ourselves to others. Our society does not often accommodate for our sensitivity.

Some practices that have helped me to honour my sensitivity include yoga and movement, meditation, nature bathing, time without stimulus & therapy.

For a lot of my life I resisted what I knew so deeply out of survival, out of trying to fit in and be enough, trying to keep up. After many years of denial, I am learning now more than ever how to honour my sensitivity as the gift it is and work with it, rather than against it.

Sure, it can be super difficult to be sensitive in an over-stimulated world, but I choose to focus on the superpowers of being a HSP; my ability to:

Tap into a deeper level of awareness, sense subtle energies & connect deeply.

I believe that my high sensitivity allows me to create in a unique way.

My deepest fear has always been to not live life fully. And being sensitive sure does give me all flavours of the fullness life has to offer. What a gift.