the ultimate guide
highly sensitive person relationships
"The thesaurus on my Microsoft Word program gives the following synonyms for sensitivity: compassion, sympathy, understanding, and kindliness."
TED ZEFF
hsp relationship problems
Welcome to the Ultimate Guide on HSP Relationships!
HSPs are people people. They are highly empathetic and can easily read other people's moods and anticipate their needs.
At the same time, relationships can be incredibly difficult for HSPs to navigate. Here are some reasons why.
1. HSPs ARE DIFFERENT
Highly sensitive people constitute a minority of roughly 20 percent of the human population. We are inherently different from the 80 percent majority in a few crucial ways. This means that our needs sometimes clash with the "normal" way of operating.
2. RELATIONSHIPS ARE STIMULATING
In addition to sensory stimuli like lights, sounds, and smells, HSPs are sensitive to social and emotional stimuli. HSPs easily sense and physically react to what other people are feeling, noticing their disappointment, discomfort, disapproval, and so on. This gets to be exhausting after a while, so while we enjoy hanging out with people, we also need more downtime in solitude to recover.
3. HSPs TEND TO AVOID CONFLICT
Another hallmark of high sensitivity is that we feel feelings more intensely. This means that potential conflict and judgment can be uncomfortably overstimulating for HSPs. So a lot of time, HSPs go out of their way to do whatever they can to keep the peace so as not to risk having to deal with other people’s negative emotions. However, this means that they can sacrifice their own well-being, sometimes to a breaking point.
In the articles below, I share pointers for navigating these problems and more...