Your Sensitivity is Your Superpower
For most of my life, I thought my sensitivity was my greatest weakness. I felt too much, I cried too much, I absorbed everything around me like a sponge. And worst of all, I felt misunderstood and alienated from all the people around me who weren’t having such big emotions and deep responses to everyday things.
According to Greater Good Magazine, sensitivity is a heightened “ability to perceive, process, and respond deeply to one’s environment.” But the question is…is it a superpower?
If you are a sensitive individual, you probably don’t feel like you have superpowers. For most of my life I felt like the weakest person in the room. Much to my annoyance and chagrin, everything seemed to touch me. I couldn’t enter a room without sensing and absorbing the energies of everyone around me. Conversations were tedious and overwhelming because I had not learned to separate my own energy from other people’s energy. In a novelist’s proverbial storyline, my character would have been the victim of everyone else’s thoughts, feelings, emotions, and whims. I definitely would not have been the superhero.
But one day that started to change. I had began paying close attention to how I felt when I was alone vs. how I felt when I was with other people. I noticed that some people would drain my energy while others would energize. Looking back, it makes sense. So I decided that I would draw an invisible line around myself, thus visualizing the separation of my energy from other’s energy. This was one of the most freeing moments of my life. Sure, I still felt everything. But I didn’t absorb to the same degree because I had discovered a way to differentiate my own form and emotions.
Your superpower is in taking control of how things affect you.
Sensitivity: Weakness or Superpower?
Superpowers are often disguised in unbecoming cloaks. Prodigious minds, for example, can be alarmingly curious, much to the annoyance of parents or superiors. Historical genius Leonardo da Vinci, was said to have been the “most curious man alive” during his time. But we can all agree that he was indeed a genius, and his curiosity, (no matter how “annoying”) was a product of that genius.
Sensitivity is no different. Sensitive people may be quicker to shed tears than others or avoid loud environments, but they are highly intuitive, have a natural capacity for empathy, and are highly attuned to details. As a highly sensitive person, I have learned that these traits are what you make them. Here are a few things I have learned:
1. The ability to feel what others are feeling makes you a great friend and a great listener.
2. A strong intuition is a powerful tool because it is almost like having the ability to see when it is dark.
3. Hyper-awareness makes you thoughtful and considerate of others/your environment. This means you’re not the rude person who wakes up your all your neighbors at midnight by talking at the top of your voice as you arrive home and unlock your front door (yes, I know people who do this).
It is time to look at your sensitivity through a different lens. Your sensitivity is your superpower. It sets you apart from other people; it also makes you special. So when someone tells you “you’re too sensitive,” remember: it isn’t your weakness, it is your superpower.
