I have recently learned that I am a HSP, it’s a great relief as I realized and discovered a lot about myself. Here is a gist.

1. I am sensitive to touch and cold water and that’s why I struggled a lot during swimming classes as a kid.

32 I process information deeply and so:

(i) I take more time to understand jokes and sarcasm - I am not “dumb.”

(ii) I learn things about people, events, and incidents that others totally miss. When I share these insights with others, I get labelled as an “over thinker”.

3. I can get overloaded with stimulation and that’s why I have never felt comfortable in loud clubs and bars.

4. I feel all emotions strongly, that’s why:

(i) I get sad easily and cry more often

(ii) Happiness is joy, sadness is loneliness, anger is rage and fear is delusion.

(iii) Friendship with me is intense, I need to feel emotionally connected to think of someone as a friend.

5. I am sensitive to subtleties; that’s why I often feel things are out of place and something’s wrong, without being able to put my finger on it.

6. I am not shy, I am not holding back, I don’t lack interest, I am not dumb, I just observe quietly and take in.

7. A lot of sensitive people can become shy; just as I once did, but it’s not inherently the same and it was because of people seeing me differently due of my quiet/overstimulated nature.

8. It can be misinterpreted or ever misdiagnosed as autism or ass-burgers.

9. My need to pause and observe what people around me are doing is not shyness or fear or aloofness. It’s my brain analyzing others, placing myself in their shoes, being aware of what they do, how and why. Deeply processing it all to understand their emotions, to better respond to their needs and expectations.

10. I don’t need to see everything to understand it, the process is on a sub-conscious level, as though it’s intuition. That’s why I can always tell if someone’s lying; if something’s wrong; even when I am not looking at them; just by their voice; just by their tone; just by their body movements or lack there off and just by the pauses between their speech.

12. Over simulation is the what people closest to me notice first — that’s why they often complain about me being exhausted and out of energy.

13. I need a lot of downtime. Seated alone, processing the information/simulation, thinking, making sense of it… and that’s why I used to roam around my hostel dorm for 1–2 hrs every day, all by myself, after not having had a break the whole day.

14. Being very emotional leads to better thinking. We think thoroughly about something only when we are emotionally involved - and that’s why I always wanted to understand why no one help me with my startup — to the point of going crazy and desperate enough to ask them directly.

15. I am a lot more empathetic than most people around me and that’s why:

(i) I want to make a better world and have spent a lot of time, energy, and money on an R&D project that may help us in various ways

(ii) I tend to help others whenever they reach out to me

(iii) I tend to be extra polite and nice; very cautious that I don’t offend anybody.

(iv) I tend to understand how others are feeling and often support them through their sad and delusional moments.

16. When we discover about the concept of HSPs, we keenly listen/read and realize that we are HSPs and that’s I have been reading a lot about it lately.

17. 20% of over 100 species have this trait and as such, it can’t be a disorder; it’s an evolutionary advantage.

18. I am especially equipped to be a pioneer, to see the future, and may be, just may be, one of my visions for the future may come true someday.

19. Most sensitive children excel at school, just as I had.

Most important, I learned that I am okay, there’s nothing wrong with me and I don’t need to change myself.