The HSP World Podcast Ep: 24: How Highly Sensitives Can Stop Noticing “Everything”

This podcast is brought to you by The HSP World Mastery Program dedicated to inspiring and empowering HSPs. 

Thomas:  Hi and welcome to The HSP World podcast.  With each episode we invite a guest with the HSP Trait to have a conversation about a burning HSP-related question they have.  We’re not coaches or therapists.  We’re HSPs holding space with you and I’m one of your hosts, Thomas and your other hosts are;

Robyn: Robyn.

Rayne: and Rayne.

Robyn: Welcome back everybody to another episode of the HSP World podcast. With us today, we have Samantha. Hi Samantha.

Samantha: Hi, it’s great to be here. Nice to meet all of you.

Robyn:  Thanks for joining us.  Samantha, as usual I’m gonna ask if you can tell us a bit your HSP story, how you found out that you have the Trait?

Samantha:  Sure, thanks again. I’m really excited to be here and it’s kind of been a journey to figure this out.  I believe I’ve had this my whole life and have just sort of recently found it as an adult.  And it’s really given me some unbelievable keys, what I like to refer to as the manual on myself, which has been very helpful.

But basically I grew up a competitive athlete.  I was a swimmer and, you know, even as a young kid, as a young teenager, I was practicing working out up to 11 times a week, um, which comes along with kind of a natural intensity to have that kind of, you know, dedication and commitment to want to be exercising five hours a day as a ten-year-old.  

Had, you know, state records by age 12, which isn’t the typical way that, you know, growing up, having sleepovers, video games. So those were things that I did not typically participate in just because of the drive I had to be an athlete.  So I would say that that was one thing as I grew up and stopped swimming, I was looking for places to continue to place that intensity and found out pretty quickly that in the adult world and in the professional world that’s not received as well.

And, you know, don’t necessarily always want to be that intense about your workplace.  Working extra hours is not always received or, provided with accolades.  So I learned pretty quickly about burnout in the workplace and also tried to put that kind of intensity on to relationships.

And that also doesn’t work out a hundred percent of the time.  So I would say in addition to being kind of an intense person, I was always also, even from a young age, very empathetic and very observant.  And I would say what I’ve learned most recently about being observant in a COVID era is, I am hypervigilant even about my surroundings and my environment really in terms of a health and safety perspective, which came quite to life during COVID.

And so all of that sort of built up in my mind and I sort of wanted to know why this is the way that I am.

And after going through a couple of relationships and, and feeling like the most intense person in the rooms at all time, and feeling like a little bit of a bull in a china shop emotionally against whoever my partner was at that time, I actually went on Google and Google searched “how to be less intense”.

And looking back, it sounds a little sad because now I know this is a personality trait that I want to embrace, but when I did that Google search, it came up with a Psychology Today article and it was basically, ‘do you feel too intense’? Here is all the traits and characteristics.

And, you know, by the end of the article, I was full blown crying, because like I said I felt like I had found the user’s manual on myself.  And so that’s sort of how I got to this point and now I’m doing work around.  Okay.  What does that mean?  What are my strengths that I can harness?  What are some areas they may need to guard and be aware of?

Robyn:  Oh, that’s a really, really beautifully put Samantha.  Thank you.

Rayne:  Thank you for sharing that Samantha, that’s awesome.

Robyn:  I like the connection between the sensitivity and drive there. That’s an angle that we, we don’t always play up, but I think it can be there very much.

Samantha:  I think I might’ve mistook that drive, which I later now know after some therapy, that there is an element of anxiety that plays behind all of that.  And I think the anxiety worked to my strength as an athlete.  I could channel that to be just a very driven competitive athlete.   And then when that goes away you’re kind of left with the remnants, which is anxiety and feeling too intense.

So, you know, I think there are definitely pros and cons to being HSP, which I’m uncovering.

Robyn:  Really interesting food for thought there.  But I believe you had a question for us today.

So my question would be, you know, we’re talking about really being observant and hyper aware of your surroundings as part of HSP.  I think we’re naturally empathetic and pick up on small things.  We may even pick up on things before our friends or family do and can even come to a conclusion much faster than them. 

But part of that is just being hyper aware or even without being conscious of it, just being very aware of the sensory information that you take in subconsciously all day.  I think sensory information can be helpful to everyday life.  But it can also for me, weigh me down.  And so I noticed that by the end of the day, I’m aware of sounds and smells and touch and just every call I’ve been on, any interaction I’ve had.

I am at all times absorbing all details of my surroundings.  And it’s not just that I’m aware of them.  I believe I’m actually filing them and sort of putting them in a certain place in my mind and carrying them and holding on to them.  And so I think by the end of the day, I’m at the point where I’m at sensory overload, because I can’t just sort of let sensory come in and go by me.  I am addressing it all.  

So my question would be, how do we manage that?  Or how do we deal with that?

Rayne:  Yeah, that’s a great question.  That’s a great question, Samantha.  And I like how you said that about filing that information, because really, if our senses are basically wired to notice anomalies, then we would be constantly scanning, right?  To notice if something is out of the ordinary.  So, yeah.

And that does take energy for sure.  And it’s not something we necessarily can control.  So that’s a really good question. 

Robyn:  Wow, where to start.  This is a, this is a huge one actually.  I think, I think probably every Highly Sensitive person has to think about this in order to keep well and keep balanced.  And to some extent, everyone, right?  Because we live in an era where there’s, it’s just so easy to be overwhelmed by many things, but, you know, as always, it’s all the more true for a Highly Sensitive.

Thomas:  And, and more and more, there’s so many different aspects of the world that are trying to gain our attention, you know, especially now with online and our phones and everything is trying to, you know, always notify this, notify that.  It’s um, yeah, something that we need to focus on.

Samantha:  One thing that I think about a lot is, are there certain jobs or careers that naturally lend to an abundance of stimulation during the day versus others that might be more suited, or, you know, have less stimulus during the day.  And I, I still challenge that because I regret the notion that I have to fit into a certain, you know, work from home, don’t interact with people because I do generally enjoy interacting with people.

And I would like all career options available to me, but I do happen to work in a role that is very people-centric and, and dealing with people face-to-face and on the phone quite often.  And I find that by the end of the day I am zapped in terms of my energy from taking it all in, but I still really enjoy the job.

So I, I think about a lot, you know, what is the best type of career for an HSP and if we find ourselves in a role that is more demanding from a stimulus perspective, how can we protect ourselves?

Robyn:  Yep.  Okay.  I mean, I think to answer very quickly a question about, you know, is there a best job and also your, your own answer, which is, you know, kind of resisting that idea that there’s one best job.  I would agree with that, that really any job can be, you know, better or worse for an HSP, depending on the parameters involved in there.  Right?

How is that job actually being taken up?  Right?  So, it would be with some exceptions, some exceptions that are probably never going to appeal to an HSP, but, in general, it, it really is more about how’s the job being done.

So I think one of the places to start is to get really good at noticing your own triggers.

Right because, it’s not every, like not every person is sensitive to the same things. Right?  

So, there are, you know, for example, I’m, I’m not sensitive particularly to fabrics. Okay?

Like I can wear things that are maybe a little bit itchy and it’s, it’s still fine. Whereas other people might be so sensitive to fabrics that they have to cut the tag off of all t-shirts or blouses or whatever, because it just, they can feel it and it drives them nuts.

So, knowing what are your own trigger points. What are the things that you are very sensitive to?  I think can be helpful in managing it.  And then there’s the question of okay. Deal with it or avoid it.  Right?  If it’s some, sometimes you have a choice, right?  Like, you do have a choice about, I don’t know how often you go out to parties, Pre COVID times, right?

But even now, maybe your choices are a little more restricted. Right?  But in general, you’d have a choice about how long you spend on the phone and how many parties you go to all sorts of things in the, in the social world.  What kinds of hobbies you do, right?  Sometimes you might even have choices about how to get your work done.

Do I email someone or phone them?  Right?  There’s some element of choice.  So anything like that, it’s easy.  You, you can, adapt to your own trigger points. Things that are particularly important to you. Okay?  So like you’re saying a job that you love right?  Now, this is kind of mixed.

This is something where you could avoid it, but it’s giving you something back. Right?  So that’s something where you can say, well, as long as I feel like it’s a balance of I’m getting as much back as it’s costing me, then you know then we move to the point of, okay, how do I, how do I deal with this? Right?

And then I would lump that in that same category, as things that you can’t avoid, right?  So things that you can’t avoid or things that are actually worth it for you to engage in, even if, you know, they’re not necessarily unavoidable.  That’s where you have to, I think get really good at paying attention to the overall balance in your life. Okay?

How much energy are you putting on these things that have become necessary because of, you know, life circumstances or, or certain choices that then entail that you have to engage with these things?  And that, that one is a little bit trickier.  That one, I think you kind of have to take, you know, you have to have multiple things that you could probably do.

And this is maybe where I’m going to stop talking and ask people to help.  But I mean, a couple of things that I’m thinking of, when you were talking about like being really driven or really attending to certain things, Samantha, I know that for example, something that I am often very attentive to at work when I’m teaching is my students’ faces. Right?

So I’ll notice very quickly if someone’s confused or if they’re not looking at me, I mean, it’s a little bit harder online, right?  But especially in person, I’ll notice that very quickly.  And like, that’s something I can’t avoid that comes with the job.  So.  As long as I am still enjoying that job, I’ve got to find a way to deal with it. Right?

So, I thought, I think you were onto something really interesting when you were saying, you know, is there sometimes an overlap between anxiety and drive, right?  Or even hypervigilance and anxiety.  And so I’ve had to have multiple well discussions with myself over the years of teaching too.  I would just say, okay.  When I’m noticing that when I’m attending to that, you know, is it setting off some kind of anxiety for me that is then, you know, reinforcing that I’ll be hypervigilant.

How can I talk myself down from that cycle so that maybe I’m still noticing it, but I’m not setting off that chain of thoughts of like, Oh, the student doesn’t like me or, Oh, they’re, they’re cheating in class or, Oh, you know like, there’s noticing and then there’s noticing that sets off that big story in your head.  Right?  

So that would be, that would be one of the things that I’m thinking of, but, you know, if anyone wants to jump in on any of those points there.

Rayne:  Well, I think for me, I like to start with a baseline every day. Right? So, meditating first thing, that then gives me what I want to stay relatively close to during the day as a baseline. So when I’m meditating, I feel very calm afterward.  Um, yeah, you know, I’m not, I’m not overly picking up, I’m noticing, but it’s, it’s fine. You know what I mean? It’s manageable.

So for me, I find that having meditation gives me that baseline for the day, so that then I can notice.  You know, I can check in with myself during the day and notice, okay, I’m starting to feel overwhelmed.  Oh, okay.  I’m, I’m moving into hypervigilance.  Cause I’m picking up on way too much, you know, kind of a thing.

And then I can pull myself back and, you know, I can either remove myself, go to the washroom and just, you know, relax for five minutes or whatever it is, but I can then compare to my baseline that I started with in the morning. Right? So that helps me out.

And I think it depends too.  Like, I mean, I know what you’re talking about, Samantha, because there was a time I was working, I was working a nine to five job, dealing with the public, that kind of stuff.  And then I also was taking a hip hop dance class at night, you know, like a couple of nights a week.

And then there was something else I was taking too, that was, you know, for a couple hours, one day a week.  And after a couple of weeks of that, I was just exhausted.  Now this was before I knew I had the HSP Trait, right?  But I would say, sometimes, I mean, it depends, I think, where you fall on the spectrum of introversion and extroversion.

Like if I’m flat out exhausted at the end of the day and my day requires me to be dealing with people, a lot of people during the day that, but I enjoy dealing with people then for me, I know, okay, well, I like dealing with people it’s, I enjoy it, but there’s only a certain amount of it I can do.

So, you know what I mean?  For half the day, I’m okay to deal with people, the other half of the day, not so much, you know?  To keep my own equilibrium. And there’s jobs and things you can do where you could work fairly independently.  Thomas would know that, hey, Thomas?

Thomas:  Yeah, well I’ve been self-employed now for 16, 17 years and one of the things that I had to do right at the beginning to, you know, to avoid the anxiety of, oh, when’s that next payment coming in, you know, when is the next job coming in?  That sort of thing.  I’ve had to, um, really compartmentalize to say, All right, whether it’s five or six o’clock or whatever it is, and in the evenings, like I’m done with work.  And that also means that I’m done thinking about work, you know?

So I try to give myself that space to say, I will always have time to think about work, right?  Because the next morning when I get up and get back to work, that I’ll have time to think about it.

So I try to remind myself that I don’t have to be thinking about that specifically to 24-7.  You know, even though I’m self-employed.  So that was very helpful, to just, you know, remind myself of that as like, you don’t need to be thinking about this when the workday is done.  And it’s hard, you know, there’s sometimes it’ll, it’ll definitely intrude.

Like you say, Samantha, especially when it comes to interactions, sometimes I can just sit there and replay those interactions over and over again in my mind.  And I have to remind myself eventually to say, you know, let’s move on.  Let’s let go.  I do meditation and, and mindfulness training and so that’s helped quite a bit just to be able to notice is like, Oh, look, I’m thinking about that again. Let’s let’s think about something else.  So that’s helped.  

One thing that I’ve done more recently, uh, within the last couple years is I’ve been very, very strict about notifications on my devices.

Like I basically turn on the do not disturb from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM.  So no, no appnotifications, no.  You know, like on my Mac, I don’t have that little thing that appears on the right corner.  My email doesn’t bing whenever there’s a new email, stuff like that.  

So that I’m not pulled away from whatever it is that I’m focused on.

And it also, I’m, I’m finding it helps reduce anxiety quite a bit to not be constantly, you know, notified with the little sounds and all that.  

And then there’s also a planning aspect and Rayne I think you alluded to this a little bit, and that is, is that if I’m, if I know that I’m going out, I’m going to be with a group of people.

I kind of plan ahead of time say, no, I think I might see how long I’m going to last maybe an hour and a half, two hours in and at that point I’ll check in on myself and say, you know, I’ve had enough time to go.  And my wife has been very helpful in that aspect.  You know, she, she understands that part of me.

So when we go out somewhere and there’s a lot of people, then, you know, she might check in with me at a certain point and say, well, how’s it going?  You know, sort of thing.  So, so that’s sort of like a pre-planning part. 

Thomas: Coming up, Samantha relates in everyday situation not related to work where everything was claiming her attention.  And we discussed some perspectives that might help with that right after this.

Our podcast is brought to you by the HSP World Mastery Program with a mission of inspiring and empowering Highly Sensitives, so you can use your natural creative abilities to co-create an amazing and hope filled future.

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Samantha:  One thing for me about planning, I think we’ve talked a lot about work and the workplace and how to start your day right, and how to, you know, perhaps take breaks or turn off the notifications, maybe to give an example of the situation outside of work.

I can recall a situation where when we took Ubers before COVID, when I was in an Uber with maybe two other friends and I was texting someone and the two other friends in the car were having a conversation with the driver.  There was also music playing out of the radio and I, without meaning to, and this is what I mean by I’m absorbing it subconsciously, I was fully engaged in my text conversation, I was listening to the conversation happening in the car with the two other people, I knew the song that was on the radio and it was kind of subconsciously singing along to it.  I knew exactly where we were geographically on this bridge, you know, crossing a river. I’d been there many times before and just, you know, I was aware of the temperature in the car and  that’s what I mean by, at all times of the day.  I don’t know if anyone else is similar. That’s the amount that I’m taking in, sensory.

It’s not just a notification or an interaction.  It’s just everything that’s sort of claiming attention or, claimable is taking up.  I’m, I’m seeing you, I’m taking you up.  I recognize you. Let me give you brain space.  

And by the end of a simple Uber ride I’m exhausted.  And I liked that Robyn was talking about each person has their own triggers.

I think what’s curious about me is one of my favorite types of music is actually electronic dance music.  And I really enjoy going to the festivals with the bright lights and the really loud music and the people everywhere.  And that seems like such a contradiction.  And I think one of my triggers is already being tired or already being anxious.

And that seems to send me on this path of not being able to tolerate or hold on to all of the sensory information if I’m already in a place of depletion, which goes back to what Rayne was saying about the meditation.  So did a little different perspective there as well.

Rayne:  Yeah, the one thing I was gonna add was, for me, it’s really helped me to understand what things are taking my energy, and what things are giving me energy.  And then what, what things are, both.

You know, so, when I spend time in nature, that gives me energy.  When I’m just kind of do my own kind of creative crafty stuff, you know, on my own, that gives me energy.

You know, so kind of looking at what situations and what activities and what people, you know, where, right?  Where, where I’m giving and receiving energy, or I’m just receiving energy or I’m just giving energy . And being aware of what those situations are and what, what my limits are, you know, because, like you were saying, Samantha, you like electronic music and going to concerts and dancing stuff right?  And for sure, tons of fun, right?  

But there probably gets to be a point where depending on what you were doing the days prior to the concert and the day of the concert, you know, where you probably can get thrown into overwhelm, and then anxiety and all that stuff can happen when you know what I mean?

When you kind of, you might need a little bit of downtime before that happens, you know?  Cause you enjoy it, you enjoy it, you enjoy it, right?  And then knowing afterward, okay, I’m going to need downtime after this.  So, you know, it’s not going to be like, okay, after the concert, let’s go to the bar, you know? It’ll be like, yeah, no, that’s enough.  That’s good.

Robyn: So I really like the concepts that you’re bringing up Rayne, you know, this idea of  almost an energetic bank account, right?  Like keeping track of what’s coming in and what’s going out, exactly as you would do with  your literal bank account.  And also the idea of establishing a baseline right?

Of, of anchoring it firmly into your body.  Not just, cause I know Samantha you’re saying we can’t always plan for things well, anchoring into your body, getting a physical visceral sense of what it is to be, you know, at a good level  of stimulation.  

I mean, the thing to keep in mind is that, you know, this is not just an HSP thing.  Everybody has their limits at which they are physiologically over aroused. Everyone has that. It’s not just, HSPs.

It’s just that HSPs given the fact that they’re taking in so much more information and processing it more deeply are going to hit that limit sooner. Okay?  So it’s, it’s again about establishing your patterns.

It’s figuring out what are the things that are going to set you off and also getting really, really, really good at establishing where am I right now?  Right?  And then, so you can very easily anticipate, oh, you know what we’re heading to… Or like, oh, I was just in the car with my friends and the music and the text. As soon as we get out of the car, I’m going to need to go hang out in the bathroom for 10 minutes. Right?

And like, not finding that weird and just like finding a way to explain that to someone, to be like, uh, guys, just, you’re going to have to be without me for 10 minutes, I’m going to the bathroom or whatever.  Right?

Or even beforehand saying, uh-oh, we’re going to be in the car.  And I know those guys are going to talk and they’re going to want the loud music.  Okay?  I’m going to take 10 minutes in the bathroom before we get in the car.  Whatever right?  But just understanding that exchange of the energy in and the energy out.

If I’m remembering this correctly, there’s a resource I believe in a book that we’ve mentioned before on the podcast, the book is called, “Making Work Work for The Highly Sensitive Person” by Barrie Yeager and she recommends, or she discusses a recommendation that she gave to a client who, she asked this person basically to keep a log, a very detailed log for about a week showing, okay, what did I do? 

Like, like, it was very intense for that one week, I think she was keeping an hourly log of what she was doing, how she was spending her time and at multiple points during the day seeing, okay, how do I feel?  Right?  Like, you can come up with various systems, but like how depleted or how rested do I feel, right? And the point was to collect enough data for that person to be able to see, okay, what gives me energy? What takes away my energy, you know? And sometimes I think you said this Rayne, sometimes it’s not going to hit you immediately, right?

Because maybe it’s something that both gives and takes energy from you.  So you’re at that electronic dance festival. You’re there for the first night and it’s amazing and it’s wonderful and even the second day, you’re like, this is wonderful and amazing. And then suddenly late in the second night, you start crashing out.

And everyone else is still riding the wave and you’re like, man, I can’t do it, right?  And you’re like, why what’s wrong with me?  Why is everyone else up there and I’m crashing, and it’s normal. Right?

But once you establish that pattern, you realize, okay, maybe I could even have anticipated this and skipped out on some of the day’s activities to build up to the final evening or something, you know, or, or I keep going.

And then now I just know that I have to recover for several days after, right?

But I think the better you can get at establishing those patterns for yourself, the easier it is to recognize what’s going to happen.

Rayne: I was going to ask you Samantha, are you HSS?

Samantha: What is that?

Rayne:  High Sensation Seeking.

Samantha: Hmmm. I would say selectively, like I, the thing that really, really makes me want to just jump out a window, which I won’t, it would be a mouth noises.  I really can’t handle that. A nd I think that goes along with the misophonia that we hear is now a trend around and linked to HSP.  So if I’m in a meeting where someone is chewing gum it’s, I just, I almost can’t be there. 

But on the other hand, like visually I’m, I’m very attracted, I do photography on the side, just kind of, for fun as a hobby.  And I’m very interested in the way that things look in a shot in a frame.  And, very, you know, I love trying new foods.  So I think it’s selective.  I think my hearing is very sensitive to certain sounds that are quite displeasing to me.

Rayne:  Okay. So what High Sensation Seeking means is 30% of HSPs are also High Sensation Seeking.  I’m one of them.  On Elaine Aron’s website, hsperson dot com under the self test, there’s a test for the Highly Sensitive Person Trait.

And then there’s another one for High Sensation Seeking.  So High Sensation Seeking is more about, you’re more willing to take risks or try new things than, you know, 70% of, of the other HSPs, right?

And if, if you, if you’re an HSP and you also have HSS, there’s kind of, uh, a double, a double kind of a thing for you in learning to manage your Trait because the HSP Trait is different for every HSP, and then as well, if you’re HSS and HSP, that’s again, going to be different and individual to yourself also right?

So you might want to see if maybe you are HSS as well.  Just, it might give you a little bit more added information because they, they get bored, they like trying new things and traveling and all that kind of stuff, right?  So it’s just another thing that you, you integrate in and learn to balance, to balance out right?

Samantha: I would be interested in taking that.  I don’t think that that’s me.  I greatly enjoy new foods and traveling, but I do it extremely cautiously and I do it very planned out. And I think that’s because going back to being highly observant, I’m also naturally a little bit fearful of things. I do like to push myself to try new things, but, um, I don’t believe that I’m seeking that constantly.

I do like to have a variety of things, but I’m not a sort of jumping to it without planning it ahead of time. I don’t know if that falls into that category still.

Rayne:  No, no, High Sensation Seeking… well, they they’ll, they will take risks if they perceived that there will be a benefit regardless of what the risk is, if they perceive there will be a benefit, they’ll typically go ahead and dive in kind of a thing. Right?  So, just, I don’t know why, but when you were talking about, competing, um, you know, and being really involved in sports and stuff like that.  Typically a lot of HSPs who are quite involved in competitive sports and stuff like that, they tend to be HSS, but it like every HSP is different.  So there is no template.  We’re all unique.  Yeah.  Thomas is a little bit HSS hey, Thomas?

Thomas:  I, I think there’s, um, there’s some aspects  that I resonate with there. Yeah. I mean, I definitely like to, to try certain new things when it comes in to my creative pursuits.

Rayne:  Cool.

Thomas:  Well, Samantha, thank you so much for today’s conversation. I’m wondering if there were some points that resonated with you.

Samantha:  It was a great conversation.  I think what I’m going to take away from it myself is whether we are expecting to go into a day or a time period of a lot of stimulus or a lot of conversation, or whether it’s something that we don’t foresee coming that’s unplanned, it’s definitely helpful to first check in with yourself on your energy level and what your energy bank is telling you.

Almost like a, how much gas you have in the tank in your car.  So I think that that will be helpful for me going forward.  No matter what the day has in store for me to check in with myself on the accumulation of the last few days and even longer, the last year in COVID just, what am I carrying in terms of energy that I can bring to today?

And then maybe the last thing that I would just add, we talked a lot about some of the struggles with, uh, HSP and being naturally observant and taking in stimulus.

But I, I do just think it would be remiss to not mention some of the definite pros to that as well.  I consistently get feedback from work that I’m detail oriented and analytical and organized and empathetic and can anticipate needs, you know, in advance.

And I think if we play into those too much it can deplete our energy banks, but I do think it’s also something that is really unique about us and a place where we can potentially really shine too.

Rayne:  Absolutely. 

Thomas: I think that also is reflected in your passion for photography, to be able to see things in and probably see things in ways that others don’t. 

Robyn:  And that can be used as leverage to, you know?  So when people, uh, I’m, I’m remembering this quote from Alanis Morissette when she was interviewed in the Highly Sensitive movie. And she said, you know, people loved the fruit of my sensitivity and my Trait but they couldn’t deal with the rest of it.

And so I think, you know, part of the, of seeing the energetic bank account is understanding like, well, sometimes this is going to bring us stuff and sometimes this is going to cost us.  And so helping both ourselves and other people to understand that like, listen, if you want this beautiful part of my Trait if you want these, this, this edge and this ability that I have, you need to understand that there’s, it comes with certain necessities, right?

Like maybe I need a little bit more downtime. Maybe I need to disappear into the bathroom for 10 minutes when other people wouldn’t do that.

You have to, like we say, you know, a lot of times people resist, uh, giving us special treatment and it’s like, well, look, do you want the special Trait? Do you want the special ability?  Fine.  I’ll stop.  The special ability if you won’t give me special treatment, special ability comes with certain special concessions are not even a concession.  I mean, going to the bathroom, it’s, it’s not a big deal normally, right?  You know, but certain adaptations are needed.

Rayne:  Yeah. Yeah. Well said.

Thomas:  Thank you for joining us Samantha.

Samantha:  Thank you for having me. It was great to connect with other HSP folks.  It always makes me feel, uh, less alone and more part of a community. So thanks again.

Rayne:  Thank you for coming on and having the courage, Samantha, to ask your question. Really appreciate it. 

Robyn:  Yeah, thanks to Samantha, to Thomas and Rayne and to all our listeners.

So please join us for our next episode where we’ll,  be having another interesting HSP conversation, and to any Highly Sensitives out there who have a burning HSP-related question, big or small, we invite you to ask it on the HSP World podcast, just email info@hsp.world. 

Our thanks to the HSP World Mastery Program and to all of you who support our show by subscribing and listening to our podcast, reading the blog posts on our website at hsp.world and chatting with us on our social media channels.

Your support is contributing to the upliftment of HSPs around the world. We’re very grateful. 

Music credit: Intro and Outro music from the YouTube Music Library. Song is Clover 3.