Intense people. They are the radicals of society, the misanthropes of the world, and the killjoys of polite and amicable conversations.

If you’re frequently impassioned, incensed, fervent, frenzied, vehement and agonizingly ardent … you’re probably an intense person.

20 Signs of the Excruciatingly Intense Person

We cry on the shoulder’s of strangers, share our deepest woes with unwitting coworkers and spend hours writing sonnets to unsuspecting Facebook friends … who later end up blocking us.

The truth is, people just don’t understand us intense people. And here’s why …

1. We don’t take a long time to open up. Think 2 minutes at the most.

2. We cogitate on thoughts for hours. And hours. And hours.

3. Sometimes we plan to do or say something weeks in advance. Sometimes months. Obsessively.

4. We care about everything and everyone, constantly. To the point of mental relapse.

5. We look at people without blinking (often mistaken for psychopathy).

6. We speak about everything with conviction. Going to the shops isn’t just “I need to go to the shops.” It’s, “I need to go to the SHOPS!!???”

7. We want to help everyone and everything. For instance, if we saw a snail crawling across a footpath, we would stop to help it cross. If someone stepped on it we would cringe, shriek, or melancholically stare at its remains for 10 minutes.

8. We use intense language. We wouldn’t just say “you’re being mean.” We would say “why are you hurting my feelings, you petty barbarian, you uncivilized rogue, you insufferable reprobate!?!”

9. We prefer private messaging. Usually we end up writing 500+ word messages (to the horror of the recipient).

10. We pay undivided attention to each person we talk to. No half-assing, ever.

11. We bring up uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing topics into normal conversations. Think divorce, sex lives, religion, politics, mental illness, hemorrhoids …

12. We’re moody and changeable. One day we’ll open our souls up to you. The next day we’ll completely and utterly ignore the hell out of you.

13. We’re earnest and sincere in everything we say, almost to the point of mental blood clots.

14. We brood a lot. It’s unintentionally intimidating to onlookers.

15. We’re known to be “clingy” in relationships. We like to call it extremely emotionally expressive (EEE).

16. We want to spend all day, every day, with our best friend. “Space” isn’t even a concept to us.

17. We don’t like having big social networks – they dilute our intensity too much.

18. We’re die-hard romantic idealists. Lord Byron and Catherine from Wuthering Heights are our paradigms of romantic partner perfection.

19. We easily become emotionally bonded to characters in books, TV shows and movies. When Jack died in Titanic, and when Dobby died in Harry Potter … we cried our eyes out. For days.

20. We crave meaningful conversations. There is no such thing as “small talk” or “frivolous banter” to us.

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If you can relate to more than half of the 20 signs above, you’re probably an excruciatingly intense person. If your heart lamented reading this post … please … I implore you, share your stories and experiences below.