Things were pretty rocky in my life after my son was born. He was challenging from the time he decided he should join us. In the quest to find out what was “wrong” with him, my Mom came across a book that helped us learn was was “right” about him.
I have to admit when my Mom told me she had found a book that I should read, my body tightened just a hair with resistance. Her suggestion was also followed by “I think you might have this too and I wish I knew more about this when I was raising you”. My ears were perked up now and I dove right into the quiz to see if I “had this”.
Sure enough, my son and I both “passed” the list of true and false questions with flying colors. It was true, we were both what the author had called HIGHLY SENSITIVE PEOPLE. Maybe you already know that is a thing, but if you don’t, your life might change right here today just like mine did when I found out about it. Highly Sensitive People (HSP) are a said to make up 15- 20% of the population.
When I learned about this type of person I felt so light knowing that I wasn’t the only “weird” person out there. There are more people like me and all this time I thought there was something wrong with me. Turns out all those things that I perceived as being negative, also have a positive side to them if you look at the a bit differently.
I actually gained a lot of confidence in being able to put a name to what I “had”. It was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders knowing that I wasn’t crazy, I just had some characteristics that the majority of people don’t have. Lucky me!
Sometimes I truly do feel lucky to be a HSP and other times, especially when I used to try and fit in, or when I get easily overwhelmed, it’s a nemesis! Being a parent to a HSP makes life interesting as well, but I’m so glad I have compassion for why he freaks out when something is in his sock or when he is overstimulated in noisy places.
What’s cool to me is that I feel like I have far more HS people in my life than the average bear because I am involved with horses and their people. HSP’s are attracted to animals and desire to have many of them in their life because animals get them. HSP’s, being sensitive to energy, are also very good with animals and are more likely to be very successful with them because of their extra high level of sensitivity.
My gut tells me that 45% (or more) of horse people are highly sensitive. More than double the average. If you add the cat and dog people in there, we animal lovers are a sensitive tribe.
Maybe those crazy horse ladies are actually HS people!
I believe that part of my path here in this life is to help other HSP’s find their way and use these traits as gifts instead of feeling like they’re a punishment to hold. Learning this about myself was pivotal in rediscovering that I had intuitive and healing gifts as well.
As I mentioned, one of the traits that highly sensitive people have is that they are attracted to and have an appreciation for animals. You might also get overwhelmed easily from sound and smells. You might startle easily and not enjoy surprises. If you are creative (in arts or music or crafts) or be sensitive to pain you may be highly sensitive. If you don’t like scary or violent movies and you get hangry (angry when you’re hungry), you might be a HSP. Choking in competition is also a common trait of a HSP because we don’t like being watched!
Being HSP isn’t something that needs to be fixed and there’s nothing wrong with either one of us. You actually have an advantage over others if you look at it right. You know when others are uncomfortable and you pick up on vibes others do not. It’s like you have an inner compass guiding you, you have strong intuition. You notice details others do not and you are very creative. You are able to read your animals easily and get them to do perform or behave well better than the average Joe could. You have a great appreciation for nature, you are a hard worker with a great imagination.
If any of these hit home for you and you’re interested in learning more, take the quiz and check out the Elaine Aron’s books or do a google search on High Sensitive People. You may learn more about yourself and find you’re part of an elite group of folks with super powers! 🙂 If you think you’re a highly sensitive horse person be sure to subscribe to the newsletter on my website (right side of this page and I’ll only send you important stuff), and follow me on Facebook and Instagram – welcome to the tribe, you’re one of us.
