I feel great about the little five minute speech I gave this morning on HSPs. I shared what some of our traits are, made a couple jokes, got people smiling, and – best of all – helped at least three people discover they, too, are HSPs. I also ended up loaning out my book by Elaine Aron.
One woman came to me after the meeting and said, “I always felt so different! When I was a girl, I could never watch fireworks because they were so loud and I would cry!” Boy, do I relate to that! I loved the pretty lights, but that sudden BOOM! set me off and I cried, too. It got to where my parents simply did not take me to fireworks displays (we lived in a state where fireworks are illegal – only approved ones were ever set off that I remember, unlike the state where I now live where – while some are illegal – you can get your hands on legal and illegal ones and everyone gets in on the act. I don’t think I could have handled that as a child).
Another woman told me how she just doesn’t WANT to go anywhere when she gets off work or on the weekends: she’s just spent 50 hours of the week working with people, talking on the phone, organizing events – and she’s DONE. She looked at the test online and discovered she scored 23 out of 23 TRUE answers. “Now I have a NAME for myself.”
So the skinny is:
We don’t like loud noise
We startle easy
We’re highly intuitive
We notice things other people do not
Other people’s moods affect us
We don’t do well in crowds, bright lights, loud places (I cringe every time my husband wants to eat at a Sports bar).
We like to think before taking action (some people read that as fearfulness)
We are often labeled shy or introverted
We’ve been told that we’re “too sensitive” (My Gret Aunt Gert wrote several letters to my mom where she mentioned time and again how “sensitive Jackie is”) (Yes, my real name is Jackie.)
But best of all: we are not alone. It was really fun today because out of the 24 people present, three came out and declared they were HSPs. Adding myself into that number, that’s 4 out of 24 – 15-20% of the people present. All I wanted to reach was that percentage.
I also took heart in the number of folk who did not think they were HSPs but who were gratified to understand about our personality trait. They found it interesting and fascinating.
Finally, my cyber-friend, Jan, emailed me and said she took the little online test, too. She could see her whole family in a new light, especially her son. They are all Highly Sensitive People to some degree and they have had to deal with people who just don’t “get it” when they feel the need to withdraw or remove themselves from situations where they feel over-stimulated. Well, I get it.
I am forever grateful to Dr. Aron for her research. 
Hey Jaci, I found you
I took the test before and just took it again, I scored a 7, a few others were a sometimes but not always so I left it blank.
I’m glad it went pretty well for you.
That does seem to be the biggest “aha moment” for people– that instant when you realize “it’s not just ME!”
Knowing– and understanding– that you’re an HSP does make life a little better, in that we can plan somewhat around the things that “work” and “don’t work” for us. For example, I used to think I really didn’t enjoy people… but I do.. it’s just that the many energies exhaust me very quickly.