How To Navigate SPS As An Highly Sensitive Person

I’ve been talking about what makes highly sensitive people the way they are for a while now – and to be honest, with my line of work, I’m probably not going to stop anytime soon – but within this series, Sensory Processing Sensitivity or SPS it’s the one trait that actually makes an HSP.

 

So far I’ve talked about our Depth of Processing, Overstimulation, and Emotional Reactivity because while they’re unique to us, they’re all a byproduct of SPS.

 

What Is SPS (Sensitive Processing Sensitivity)?

SPS is a well-researched and measurable temperament trait in both humans and other species, and this basically means you can take a test to see if you have this trait.

 

I want to emphasize that this trait is biological, meaning it’s inherited and not learned. You don’t become a highly sensitive person or child at some point in your life, it’s not a result of your trauma or lack thereof.

 

Please remember this. I’ll get into it in a second but this isn’t a part of you that you can erase, and that’s truly a wonderful thing.

 

This trait makes it so that you’re extra sensitive in all your 5 senses or more. Now, I thought I couldn’t relate to this because I don’t consider myself someone who gets bothered by bright lights, loud noises, smells, tastes, or touch easily because I live in a bustling city.

 

I deal with a lack of personal space, painstakingly long train rides in packed carts, aggressively loud sirens, and constant noise on the regular, right, it’s constant stimulation. And yet, while it can get to me at times, it’s not ruining my day every day.

 

What I’ve come to realize shortly after discovering I’m an HSP is this: just because I’m not overstimulated by it, doesn’t mean I’m not affected by it.

 

And this perspective stemmed from my own ignorance, I just thought that’s what everyone in this city was doing. I thought they were equally as bothered as me and they were just keeping it pushing but no, no, no, that is just not true.

 

Maybe everyone in this city has been bothered by these things and that could be due to their mood, the amount of energy they have, and so on and so forth. But for non-HSP, it’s not constant.

 

And, this is now my opinion, but I do think most of the time these things aren’t going to affect non-HSP unless it’s a bother to them.

 

These things don’t have to be a bother to me – in fact, I can be enjoying them, but it’s all still highly stimulating to me on a physical level. I just know how to self-regulate when I need to.

 

So now, I deal with uncomfortable train rides easily. Truly understanding what that means has changed my self-perception a lot.

 

But this wasn’t always the case. For a large part of my adolescences, I was consistently overstimulated and overwhelmed. It showed up in the form of panic attacks, agoraphobia, and depressive episodes.

 

Your SPS Is A Package Deal

What my SPS caused during this time in my life was it heightened all of the stimuli for me at a time when my sympathetic nervous system was shot.

 

When you’re not okay, and when you go through any kind of change in your life, as an HSP, it’s dramatic. Your nervous system isn’t in tip-top shape – and let’s be honest, it’s sensitive on a good day, right?

 

Which meant I was constantly overstimulated, and that fueled my energy leaks. My body could not shut down properly, and every morning I was running on E – a completely empty tank.

 

Now, you might be thinking, okay what the hell Dom – you were talking about how being highly sensitive isn’t a weakness, yet you’re describing the main trait, SPS, as this horrible thing to experience.

 

And to that I say, the downside of SPS is that it heightens your sensitivities, which can be overwhelming if you don’t know what’s going on. I think it’s important to share what it looks like when you don’t understand what these traits are and how they show up for you, and this is how it was for me when I didn’t understand how the world was affecting me and SPS.

 

These are the downsides, but this was my version of the downsides of SPS.

 

No Two Highly Sensitive People Are The Same

No two highly sensitive people are the same, and it’s partially due to our SPS affecting us differently.

You may be an HSP who is highly sensitive to smells, to the point where you feel ill from it, or it’s so much of a bother you have to take action by getting out of the area fast.

 

I’m known for not being very sensitive to smells, to the point where if you’re burning something on the stove, I’ll be the last person to realize. You may not mind lighting in a room or lights outside, but lights are a bother to my eyes if they’re not “right” or too loud.

 

So your SPS trait might not show up for you the way that it shows up for me, and that’s perfectly fine.

 

It’s important to understand this so we don’t end up in this cycle of gaslighting ourselves into thinking we’re not struggling, or our overwhelm isn’t prominent enough to be worthy of rest and recovery. Harnessing your sensitive nature looks like self-compassion.

 

The upsides to having this trait are the same upsides you experience with your depth of processing and your emotional reactivity; you’re a better listener, and a better decision-maker and your senses are more reliable than others so you can sense when something’s wrong sooner than others.

 

I know these upsides sound like superpowers, and honestly? It checks out. But seriously, understanding what’s going on around you can quite literally save your life, which is why SPS is an evolutionary trait that not many people have, you’re naturally more sensitive to dangers.

 

From a social perspective, you’re tapped in. It doesn’t take you long to understand who vibes with who within a group, what individual strengths and weaknesses others have, and your concern for others is nothing less than beautiful.

 

Going Further Into Your Journey To Heal

It’s a beautiful, humane thing to care about others, and the capacity in which you can be considerate and serve others is a phenomenal thing when you don’t allow other people and situations to take that power away from you.

 

What do I mean by that?

 

I mean when you allow other people to take more from you than what you can give.

 

Your energy gets stolen from you when situations stress you out more than they need to.

 

When you don’t take care of your mental health symptoms when they’re trying to communicate with you.

 

And most definitely when you ignore your spiritual health by depriving yourself of self-compassion, connection, and activities that energetically refuel you.

 

It takes self-awareness and the desire for more than simply self-growth to harness your highly sensitive nature, it takes knowing you are worthy of unlimited, unconditional love. In your relationships, in your careers, and within yourself.

 

And as deeply transformative as that is, that type of transformation happens in the small things. In the small decisions – those split moments after intense emotion, after your reflex reaction.

 

That transformation happens in how you respond to the world and people around you.

 

Those micro-changes happen when you decide to start taking consistent action in reprogramming what you thought you knew about your sensitivity because it is a strength, right?

 

You just haven’t treated it like a strength before.

 

So, if you’re ready to do that, it’s exactly the process I hold your hand through within the CalmWithDom Academy.

 

I’m so passionate and dedicated to helping highly sensitive women actualize the power they have over their lifestyles. How relationships don’t have to be this fight for survival where you’re left with a shot nervous system when things go wrong, how you don’t have to be defeated by the day-to-day grind.

 

You can show up in the world as gently or as boldly as you want because leveraging your highly sensitive nature is only going to protect your energy and prevent those energy leaks.

 

I’ll always link the CalmWithDom Academy somewhere in these blogs or podcast episodes for when you’re ready to discover what your highly sensitive nature can provide for you, and I’m so excited for those of you who take this next step with me.

 

You got this. Until next time.

 

Listen to this podcast episode below!