Wondering how you can turn your sensitivity into a strength as a highly sensitive person? Guest writer Steven Mareels shares helpful tips.
Estimated reading time: 1 minute
Every sound, every glance, every unspoken word—a highly sensitive person (HSP) feels it all, and sometimes it feels like too much. Although approximately 15% to 20% of people are highly sensitive, our modern world is rarely considerate of an HSP’s sensitivity.
This can be a challenge, with overstimulation and being walked over lurking in the background every day. Luckily, there are concrete ways you can overcome these challenges and turn your sensitivity into a personal strength. Let’s take a look at common challenges, the benefits of being an HSP, and the strategies to transform sensitivity into a strength!
Here’s What You’ll Discover:
Common Challenges for HSPs
Before we dive into these strategies, it’s important to identify the most common challenges of HSPs, as we need to work around them.
Overstimulation
Being overstimulated is one of the challenges HSPs face most often. It’s when you’re in a busy office, filled with chatter and phone calls, and you feel like your head is about to burst open (who thought open-plan offices were a good idea?). This overstimulation happens when there are too many stimuli, overburdening your senses. It can make you feel stressed, restless, and even irritable.
Lack of Boundaries
Having little to no boundaries is another common challenge. Sometimes you need to say no to others, and that’s especially hard for highly sensitive people, as declining may hurt the feelings of the other person. Failing to set boundaries often leads to others overlooking your needs, however, leaving you feeling unfulfilled and unhappy.
Perfectionism
Trying to make things perfect is also a risk for HSPs, as having an eye for detail can easily lead to hyper-focusing on tiny details that don’t matter in the long run. For instance, spending hours tweaking minor details on a project instead of focusing on its overall impact. Perfectionism can seriously hurt your productivity and happiness, as this can make even the smallest task gargantuan.
Benefits of Sensitivity
Luckily, being a highly sensitive person doesn’t just come with challenges – it also means you’ll have several unique benefits at your disposal.
Empathy
First, HSPs are often great at connecting with other people thanks to their high sensitivity. In my experience (and as shown by research), many HSPs are more empathetic and authentic than most, which helps others feel truly heard and understood. This is a characteristic that shouldn’t be underestimated, as having good relationships not only makes your life happier, it also creates opportunities for your career and other areas of life.
Picture a highly sensitive person comforting a friend going through a breakup. She notices her friend’s tone wavering even when they say, “I’m fine.” Instead of accepting it at face value, she gently asks, “Do you want to talk about how you’re really feeling?” This creates a safe space for her friend to open up, and it strengthens their bond.
Creativity
Thanks to sensitivity to detail, beauty, and emotion, there are also lots of HSPs who excel in creative work, as shown by a 2020 study. Songs, photography, poems – they all convey an emotion. When you’re really sensitive to the subtleties of those emotions, you’ll have an easier time creating art that connects with other people’s feelings.
Imagine a photographer who’s highly sensitive. During a wedding shoot, he notices subtle expressions—the quiet smile of the bride when she looks at her partner or the tear the groom quickly wipes away during the vows. These small moments become the heart of their photos, which makes their album deeply personal and touching.
Eye for Detail
Noticing subtle details that others miss, like shifts in body language or tone, is another benefit for HSPs. This advantage can help in roles that require a good antenna for these details, especially leadership and counseling roles.
For instance, an HSP may recognize when someone feels excluded in a conversation, as they look to the ground, and take action to make them feel included (“What do you think about it?”). Another good example is that they may detect tensions in a business meeting that the other participants miss and address them before they escalate by using reflective listening (“It seems you’re frustrated by the situation, am I right?”).
How to Turn Sensitivity Into a Strength
Now we’ve established the common challenges and the major advantages of being a highly sensitive person, it’s time to look at multiple strategies to turn your sensitivity into a personal strength.
Practice Self-Acceptance
A great first step is embracing who you are. Sensitivity isn’t a flaw; it’s a natural part of you and can be a major strength, as the benefits of the previous section show. Here are some concrete steps to help you embrace self-acceptance:
- Write down a list of the positive aspects of being highly sensitive, like empathy, creativity, deep thinking, and strong intuition. Reflect on how these traits have benefited you and others in your life. Keep this list somewhere visible as a constant reminder that being sensitive brings a lot of good things to your life.
- Similarly, use affirmations to ingrain this self-acceptance in your mind. Write affirmations like, “I am proud of my sensitivity. It makes me compassionate and insightful.” Set reminders on your phone or place sticky notes where you’ll see them daily.
- If you struggle with negative self-talk, like when you catch yourself thinking, “Why am I so sensitive?”, replace it with a positive thought, like “My sensitivity helps me understand others deeply.” Practice this reframing consistently to shift your mindset.
Set Boundaries
Your sensitivity makes you empathetic, but it also means you’re more prone to overstimulation and people-pleasing. Learn to say no to things that drain your energy. Protecting your emotional space ensures you can recharge and show up fully for the things that matter most. But how do you set these boundaries?
- Keep a journal for one week, noting situations that drain or overwhelm you. Pay attention to physical sensations like fatigue or tension—they’re clues about your limits. For example, you may realize that attending back-to-back social events leaves you exhausted.
- Practice setting boundaries in low-stakes situations, like declining a request for something minor. I’d recommend role-playing with a friend or family member to get used to saying no. This way, you can build some confidence before addressing bigger challenges.
- Frame your needs in a way that focuses on your feelings rather than blaming others. This reduces conflict and helps others understand your perspective. For instance, you could say “I feel overwhelmed when plans change last-minute. Can we decide earlier next time?” instead of “You make me feel overwhelmed when you change plans last-minute.”
Become Emotionally Resilient
Resilience doesn’t mean ignoring your emotions—it means managing them effectively. Practice mindfulness or journaling to process your feelings. These habits help you stay grounded and balanced, even in challenging situations. Some concrete ways you can work on your emotional resilience:
- Reflect on situations that cause strong emotional reactions. Keep a journal to identify patterns and triggers. For example, you may notice that criticism from others often leaves you feeling deeply hurt.
- Use techniques like the STOP method (Stop, Take a breath, Observe, Proceed) to manage intense emotions in the moment.
- Develop healthy coping mechanisms by creating a list of calming activities you can turn to when overwhelmed, such as journaling, exercising, or listening to music.
Conclusion
Your sensitivity brings both challenges and opportunities. With the right strategies, you can transform it into a powerful strength. By using the tips in this article, and the other resources on this site, you’re equipped with the knowledge to do so.
Take the first step today. Choose one strategy, implement it this week, and see how it transforms your sensitivity into strength!
