High Sensitivity
This insight is relatively hard-won for me.
There are so many concepts floating around among us humans. And there’s nothing the human ape loves better than a shiny new concept (or a favorite old one) to wield.
There’s a lot of static and noise to wade through. And the trickiest part is: it’s extremely easy and common to use ‘true’ concepts to distract people or oneself from other truths. This is the most effective form of misdirection, because it appears utterly legitimate. If I deceive you by way of truths, then you are less likely to recognize the deception.
It is not only ‘truth’ that people need. Sometimes not even truth at all. But rather, Relevant, Timely, Salient concepts. And to make matters even more complicated, relevance, timeliness, and salience can be quite subjective.
So a good policy: don’t trust anyone who tells you s/he has ‘the answer’. But welcome those who are willing to share good questions, and possible answers (plural).
On the other hand, if a truck is speeding towards you, get up and get out the fucking road. You can deal with the philosophical import later while you’re still breathing.
Anyway, all of this is to say: High Sensitivity. The concept pioneered by Dr. Elaine Aron. She did not invent it, but she’s championed it.
Over years of reflection, of successes and failures, and of experiences, I believe that this phenomenon is an extremely consistent through-line and explanatory factor in my experiences.
I am an HSP, a so-called highly sensitive person. This does not mean I’m a kind person. It means that certain aspects of my neural architecture process stimuli with a high degree of nuance relative to the population average. And that as a consequence I have been subject to experiences of overwhelm in contexts that would conventionally be viewed as ‘normal’ or ‘not overwhelming’.
Perceptual and processing sensitivities are not good or bad in and of themselves. They are simply characteristics to be understood and managed. Positioned appropriately. Cared for. And at best, harnessed for optimized performance.
This is not a very widely recognized notion and so, similar to many HSPs, my sensitivities were not handled well in my youth. I developed erroneous concepts and ideas about the parts of my life and my self that were associated with those sensitivities; often seeing them as flaws or limitations to be overcome (or that I repeatedly failed at overcoming).
Over time, I’ve improved in this area. But many of the obstacles or challenges I’ve faced or continue to face are related to it.
One of the important tasks is to learn to listen for and to hear your own inner process. To recognize what you really want. Particularly in the early part of life, it’s very common to pursue socially established goals and aspirations. If those extrinsic objectives match up somewhat with your intrinsic nature and motivations, then that dynamic can actually serve you. If, however, your needs and your nature differ significantly from the population average, then you’ll need to do a bit of extra learning, and (definitely in my case) a whole lot of reframing of social messages and cultural norms.
As a teenager, I took the shortcut of just saying ‘everything people say is wrong’. (Again, not uncommon at a time in life when individuation is really kicking in.) But babies and bathwater. In the end, it’s going to take a little more deliberate reflection than that.
Maybe my next few posts will be about integrating high sensitivity with my ongoing goals and projects.