Have you ever felt that your nervous system is frequently working overtime to regain physical, emotional, and spiritual balance in times of a lot of uncertainty and overstimulation?

It can be a continual dance — alternating between having too much going on and feeling overwhelmed, or doing too little and experiencing boredom. As much as I enjoy being scheduled and pretending to be a fortune teller to my future needs, I don’t always get it right. At times I want to throw my well-crafted social calendar out the window and bail on all my plans to eliminate the burnout and overscheduling.

“You will feel better once you get to the dinner party. I get you are tired and had a difficult day at work but you are being too sensitive and a party pooper right now.”

If your energetic batteries need recharging more than the “average” perAndriyKo Podilnykson, you’re not alone. In 1996, research from Dr. Elaine Aron discovered that approximately 15–20% of the world’s population is born as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Often mischaracterized as “too sensitive”, this empathetic personality type feels and thinks deeply about their inner world and surroundings.

Even if you are an extroverted HSP like I am, too many social engagements leave you wiped out and in need to find a quiet place within your home for self-care. For most of my adult life, I mischaracterized my temperament as mood swings or hot and cold syndrome. It wasn’t until 3 years ago that I took an HSP Self-Test that entirely changed the way I viewed myself and others. I finally had the tools to fully understand and accept my trait as the gift that it is.

The ‘S’ in HSP is for “Sensitive” and it’s related to our high-performing nervous systems and not just our feelings. Large crowds or loud environments can be an overwhelming experience for an HSP. A continuous intake of subtleties in their surroundings can lead to an overwhelming feeling of living in a “loud world”.

Everyone has that day in which something didn’t go as planned — you didn’t get enough rest, had a difficult conversation or experienced a lot of disruption throughout the workday. For an HSP, it’s particularly challenging to bounce back quickly, to dust ourselves off, and jump right back into the thick of things without downtime to recoup, process events, or heal our emotional wounding.

Here are 10 common challenges HSPs face:

• Compulsive thinking

• Feels generally misunderstood

• Fosters resentment

• Often experiences social exhaustion

• Poor boundaries

• Low self-esteem

• Flight or Fight when dealing with conflict

• Experiences triggers from past wounding

• Easily disrupted & low pain tolerance

• Emotional buffering

Everything has a yin to its yang, and for HSPs it’s not always an easy task to calm their finely attuned nervous system and stay out of sensory-processing overload, while remaining emotionally available and grounded. Every HSP experiences their traits differently and at variant magnitudes.

Here are 10 common benefits of being an HSP:

• Depth of experience and feeling

• Strong self-awareness

• Appreciative of the small things

• Intuitive nurturing skills

• Increased empathy

• Masters of self-care

• Excels at forming close relationships

• Generous and passionate

• Finely tuned senses

• Conscientious nature

Being HSP has a lot of virtues and talents when we understand how to leverage our traits. There is no such thing as being “too assertive”, “too emotional” or “intense” when you have a healthy understanding and acceptance of self. Once you know how to work with being an HSP, you can proudly own it.

For more useful coaching tools and tips, sign up for our biweekly newsletter.

Spirit Panda Coaching has been helping young adults who struggle with finding their way after college to integrate into work and life with confidence and direction while leveraging the best of their sensitivity temperaments. As an HSP Business Coach, I am trained in guiding clients to a state of self-empowerment and success. All coaching sessions are remote, and you can schedule a 15 min complimentary consultation here.