How To Turn Your Sensitivity Into Your Greatest Strength

According to researcher Elaine Aron, about 15 to 20 percent of people are highly sensitive by nature. These people – who often feel overwhelmed by their sensitivity and are highly emotional and empathetic – are not always well understood by society.

Unfortunately, people today tend to dismiss sensitivity as it is often associated with weakness. This is why many people suppress their sensitivity without realizing that when properly developed and reinforced, it is an invaluable virtue.

Denying your sensitivity and suppressing your feelings, especially the negative ones, will only make these feelings more persistent and turn them into unresolved problems. However, if you are aware of your own sensitivity and are able to express it, you will be able to release all that emotional energy that can be directed in creative and constructive ways.

Sensitivity is natural

Sensitivity is the ability to gather information through the nervous system. It is natural and as such neither good nor bad. It’s like a sensitive microphone that picks up even the most subtle sounds.

However, the nervous system of sensitive people perceives much more sharply and nuanced, making them aware of things that others miss. Of course everyone experiences stimuli, but sensitive people much more. Someone who is highly sensitive notices small changes or nuances. The intensity of the observation also differs.

Accept your emotions

To turn sensitivity into strength, you need to accept yourself and  know how to take the reins of your emotions to make them work in your favor, rather than letting them gallop uncontrollably. These reins should not suppress or deny your emotions. Instead, they should release them at the right time and in the right way.

Repressing or avoiding emotions often leads to what are known as meta-emotions, or in other words, emotions about emotions, such as being angry for being sad or feeling guilty for being angry.

Many people, consciously or unconsciously, behave in such a way that they don’t have to feel. This applies to both positive and negative emotions. Their sensitivity can make things seem too overwhelming and so they prefer to avoid it.

This could be as simple as turning on the TV after work to avoid thinking about the day’s problems or drinking alcohol (or other substances) to numb the stimuli of complex social environments. These are some of the ways people ignore or intellectualize their emotions, all just excuses not to deal with them. But these are not the only ones.

To counter this natural tendency, you will have to acknowledge the emotion as it arises, accept it for what it is,  feel it without judgment, and accept the physical reactions that eventually force you to let go of the emotion.

Sensitivity, passion and creativity

Sensitive people are often also passionate and creative people. They are often artists because they are more aware of their emotions and are better able to convey them to others through their work.

Unfortunately, parenting tends to focus more on scientific and business skills, an influence that children experience from an early age. This removes them from artistic expression, reducing it to a mere supplement to education that is ignored when other, ‘more important’ matters require more time.

However, each of us is passionate about something deep down, despite what other people think. These strong feelings should be expressed, as they will serve as a compass that will tell you what you most want to do with your time.

Relax and reflect

Sensitive people do a lot of reflection, especially if they spend too much time in stimulating environments that may be overwhelming for them. It’s a good idea for sensitive people to set aside time to do reflection exercises  and even keep a journal of them. This will give them more time to recover and ‘de-stimulate’.

When you make time to stop and think, you can become more aware of your own situation and of the subtle things that affect you every day, like water dripping on a rock.