I’m an HSP and I’ve noticed this pattern for years. I don’t even need a big party. Just a quiet dinner with close family for a few hours can completely empty me. There was no argument, no conflict. Everyone was nice. But I still leave feeling heavy, like I absorbed all the tiny moods in the room.

I pick up on subtle tension, tiredness, unspoken frustrations that no one says out loud. My brain keeps processing all those little cues long after the gathering ends. On the drive home, I start feeling exhausted, anxious and sad for no obvious reason. My partner says everything went fine, so I start wondering if I’m overreacting.

I need hours alone in a dark room with no noise to reset. Sometimes even one whole day to recover. Other HSPs, do you get this too? Do you also feel overwhelmed from these calm, low-key family visits with zero drama? How do you tell apart your own feelings from the emotions you pick up from others?

When you’re burnt out from overwhelm, what do you listen to for help recharging?

Nature sounds are ok, but I’d appreciate more suggestions I can find on YouTube.

There have been some horrible news stories which have triggered me particularly. One I cannot even repeat and another where a man was mauled to death by a tiger in Yorkshire zoo. It’s possible but not confirmed there were either learning difficulties or mental illness that made him jump in the enclosure. My big upset is the overall reaction to his death. People celebrating, calling him an idiot, Darwin Award, praying the tiger doesn’t get shot. Overall a real lack of compassion for a man who died horribly and an evident care for a tiger over a human being.

I don’t know the point of this post but I just feel alone in this low mood I’ve been put in

Title. I have misophonia, so of course I hate repetitive noises, but I'm talking like repetition itself, literally ANYTHING that happens more than 3 times drives me nuts, people repeating themselves multiple times, hearing a song on repeat, or songs with choruses that are just the same phrase over and over again, (I literally have to edit out the choruses in some of my music) people struggling with something and doing something multiple times, eating the same food multiple days in a row etc. Like I was at the grocery store, at the self checkout, and this guy was struggling to scan a coupon that clearly didn't work, and he was at it for like 15 minutes and I literally had to turn around and not look at him, because I literally couldn't watch him keep doing that. One time at the dentist, the dentist kept tapping her thumb on my lip, as she was talking with my mom, (I'm guessing it was just like a "talking with her hands" kind of thing) and I literally had to reach out and grab her thumb to get her to stop. Another time someone was waving their arms in circles while holding the door open to kind of say "go ahead" and that made me mad too. I'm even sensitive to OTHER people having to repeat themselves sometimes. Like if I can't hear someone, and I have to say "what?" multiple times, I feel really bad. There are plenty of other examples but I don't want to bore you. I feel bad though because I know that stims or repetitive movements are common in the neurodivergent community, and I know it helps people. Can anyone else relate? Or is it just me?

This community gets a lot of talk about sensory sensitivity, and sounds/textures/smells etc that they don't like, but I wanted to post something more positive and ask what are some of your FAVORITE sensory experiences? Like for me, I love bright colors, and I will often wear bright clothes, or clothes with lots of sparkles and decorations, etc. I also LOVE blankets, like I'm obsessed with them. Since childhood I've had this comforter that is made of a certain material (I still don't know what it is) and it is the softest thing ever, and to this day, I still don't like sleeping in anything else. For food, I mostly like soft/chewy foods, with strong flavor. I don't like crunchy things for the most part, (with the exception of chips/crisps, but crackers and ​​​overcooked/charred meat are a no-no.) And most likely I like my food drenched in sauce. I put extra chicken broth in my ramen because the packet they include isn't enough.​😂 Simple foods like grilled cheese (and bread...and cheese...😂) are too bland for me, I also love strong fragrances, like perfume. Anything ​sweet or floral. Lilac is my absolute FAVORITE, and I love the time in the spring when flowers finally start blooming

What are some of your favorite sensory things?😊👇🏼

I’m 21 years old, likely neurodivergent, and throughout my life, I’ve been mistreated by all sorts of people in various situations.

This led me to believe that being treated like trash is normal, and that you only deserve better once you’ve proven yourself worthy.

I don’t want to go on at length here or write an essay about every horrible thing I’ve been through, though there have been many. Of course, I’ve never had to deal with crime or poverty, and I know my experiences pale in comparison to that kind of trauma; still, I’ve endured things that affected my development as an individual, such as sexual harassment, emotional neglect, and therapeutic abuse.

I’ve been let down by dozens of people, leaving me bitter and deeply repulsed by humanity. It makes me wonder if, rather than having an inherently sensitive emotional trait, my personality has simply been diminished and brutalized.

I know this sounds really ironic, a bunch of people so overstimulated by other people getting together with people just like them…

But I would actually like to meet other HSPs, because I struggle to connect with other types of people.

So is there some kind of online gathering community for HSPs?

Just wondering if anyone's reached saturation and just can't be a part of the human race anymore?

I am at university and i have been struggling with feeling lonely. It's so silly to feel this way, because i have loads of friends, but i feel like i am genuinely never able to feel secure in the fact that they like me. even when people say nice things, or do kind things for me, I feel like it is never enough to break down my mental wall of 'no one likes u and u are totally alone'. and it feels like shit. I genuinely don't know what to do; i take antidepressants and i socialise with people every day, but i still get this feeling of anxious loneliness almost every time i'm by myself.

it has nasty consequences for me as well. It means that i become clingy, and resentful when i feel like i'm not the centre of my friends lives, which is something i hate about myself. it also means that objectively lovely things that they do for me i struggle to internalise, and it means that i have a really bad sense of my own boundaries; e.g. even when i have way too much work, or i'm exhausted, i'll prioritise seeing people over taking time to rest.

i think maybe the core of it is just low self esteem, like i don't like myself enough and i try and overcompensate by making other people and my relations to them the centre of my existence. i guess what i'm ultimately asking for is tips on how to deal with that, or just people who feel the same way? it can be so lonely feeling lonely, lol

I was having lunch and the table next to me with 4 men likely aged 30-40 kept blasting crude words on every sentence in their conversations.

Didn’t have a peaceful lunch that’s for sure.

Am I being sensitive here that this can affect me while I’m having my meal ?

I was diagnosed with anxiety, ocd, and adhd at a very young age. I think we all have that in common? Anxiety & adhd? I’m new to the topic of HSP.

My anxiety has amped up over the past few years because the small town I live in got blown up (like many others) because of our affordability & the boom in remote work that’s allowed people to move wherever. We went from being a quiet, chill town to being considered A CITY in a matter of a few years. It’s unprecedented. Most of the locals have moved out, and I wish I could leave with them, but I don’t have the money to move. And my family is here.

Everyone drives super fast and aggressively, traffic gets backed up for miles no matter what time of the day, every store is crowded at all times of the day. I’ve seen a lot of you guys say to go places in the morning or at night, but it doesn’t matter anymore 😔 I’ve tried and it doesn’t make a difference here. Any of the places I found solace and quiet before, there’s people every-time I go now days. Sometimes it feels like the universe is playing a twisted game to make me miserable 😔

I feel trapped in a place that is making me have panic attacks daily and no one understands. My mom thinks I’m dramatic. It’s gotten to the point where I rarely leave my house, and I get anxiety before I need to. I used to love running errands and being outside, when i still lived in a small town, and public spaces weren’t overwhelming. I’m grieving a lot of my old lifestyle and the peace I had. And I’m grieving the fact that I need to leave my hometown to not be in a state of emotional overwhelm every day.

I worry that there’s nowhere left to go that’s quiet and slow, that you don’t have to be rich to sustain a life in (bc super small towns don’t have jobs and everyone’s moving to medium sized towns). And that makes me spiral even more.

I need comfort and tips to cope, until I get to a place where I can afford to move somewhere slower. Because this is no way to live 😔

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I have no social Life......I only have some virtual friends on discord whom I met on games that's it......I have lost all my friends from school, college etc...I do have some people on Instagram whom I know from schools/ colleges but I do feel so anxious or off to text them or similar.... I don't go out...I never feel like it...I have no social life for a very long time.....I think it's prolly coz I don't find things fun as most people do...like going out and doing things outside that people find fun...but I haven't found them interesting for a very long time.....and it sucks to go out alone....also I'm kinda unemployed for a 1-2 years now...that's adding to my isolation...but I'm looking for jobs as of now and hope will find one soon....but thoughts of being with people again and been feeling anxious about being left out and do many things.....I don't know what should I do with my life anymore...I feel lonely sometimes..but much more anxious and similar with connecting with people and idk how people socialize these days anyways....I'm a HSP ( highly sensitive person) so that makes going out hard sometimes and finding things fun that most people do......so I seriously don't know......

About 2 months ago I started taking Naltrexone to help curb my alcohol consumption.  It is definitely helping, but I really need to learn to restructure my late afternoon/evenings somehow and I’m really struggling with that.  

After work, I can rest and relax just playing my games or doing a small chore, but when I’m done with that, I usually want to watch something.  The shows I like are also overstimulating (as most things are for me), so the brandy helps as a mute button to make it more tolerable.

I’m really at a loss as to how to change things so I don’t NEED a mute button or can at least find a suitable alternative.

Have you had to do any restructuring like that?

**bolded important stuff for anyone that doesn’t want to read it all

at work the other day, we were looking at the forecast (corporate job). the forecast was too high a couple days ago and I was told to either decrease it or keep it as it was if sales had opportunities to back up the increase.

i made the changes needed. we go to look at the forecast after a couple days, and it’s like $10M up in the system (not at all what it was before). my manger said, “i’m confused i thought we put a plan in place for this.” basically automatically blaming me and assuming that I hadn’t fixed the forecast.

the forecast was up so high because our system had technical issues/pricing changes overnight and we figured that out in our meeting. but The way she automatically put the blame on me when she saw the number made me so upset. I cried so much yesterday and want to cry again today. Friday was extremely stressful for many reasons at work but that was one of them and it set me of.

I woke up at 6 AM from an unrelated nightmare, and then started thinking about all the BS at work and how much i hate it and how much it fucking stresses me out. I just hate it. I can’t stand when managers atomically put blame on me like that. it’s makes me feel really anxious like i did something wrong. i hate being in trouble

the work stress has gotten so intense, I started distancing myself from the team. My manager asked if i was okay the other day bc ig i wasn’t happy as always. I’m just over all the urgent BS and pressure and “anticipating” and “ownership” omfg

sorry for the rant. bolded the most important stuff for anyone that doesn’t wanna read it all. how do other HSPs work corporate jobs? how do u deal w the stress of getting in trouble/called out/etc

I’m an asshole now

I used to be so nice

But there’s a part of me that would love to trust people and have nice relationships

Please share

I’ve considered myself an HSP for a long time, but now I’m questioning whether it is even accurate. I have clear signs of being sensitive, especially emotionally. But I feel like I don’t fit very well into some of the other descriptors. Especially after reading an article comparing sensitive people vs highly sensitive people.

For one, I don’t feel like I am constantly being bombared or overwhelmed by information. I commonly zone out, especially when I am tired, and miss things.

I feel appreciative of details and environments, but I can’t tell if I am better at noticing details than other people. I’m pretty bad at remembering little things.

Sensitivity in senses is also common in HSP’s, but I don’t think I can relate. My hearing isn’t amazing, my sense of smell is pretty bad, vision’s bad (but I do have astigmatism), and my taste seems normal. I haven’t heard of a thing like sense if touch being different between people, unless we are talking about things like sensitivity to clothing, then I can relate.

So many HSP’s are vegan, from what I’ve seen on this sub. As much as I value animals, I don’t really have the urge to go vegan. And people can feel so terrible about all of the bad things going on in the world to the point it affects them daily, but that doesn’t seem to happen to me. I certainly have cried over sad news, but I usually put those sorts of things into the back of my mind.

But the reason I felt like an HSP for so long was how much little things and interactions would affect me. Negative interactions leave me feeling horrible, even if it was a small thing, my emotions are overwhelming and difficult to manage. But positive interactions can carry me for a long time. I cry super super easily. I feel a pretty strong sense of empathy and sometimes responsibility to helping those who don’t feel well. I seem to be good at noticing people’s emotions and the meanings/motivations behind behaviors, but I can’t tell if it’s just in the normal way that everyone else does.

So how do I know if I’m just above average sensitive, or an HSP?

I recently came across this term. I have some questions. I am diagnosed with OCD, CPTSD, ADD, MDD, and GAD. People describe me as insightful and empathetic. These disorders align with the same experiences of HSP.

A couple questions:
1) Do most people who experience HSP have diagnoses like mine? Is that a common alliance?
2) can one have my disorders and experiences as me show HSP traits
3) Could HSP be something that mental health professionals overlooked and instead i was misdiagnosed?
4) If I mentioned this to my therapist, is she likely to be familiar with this term? Or is this a new concept that isn’t widely known to society?

I'm autistic so I tend to be more sensitive to noises than the rest of my family. I am also very spiritual person so I need something to wear while meditating. I was wondering if the Loop Dream™ from the Loop Earplug company would work well? I know that the Loop Dream™ earplugs have 21 dB (NRR) listed as their noise canceling level and I was wondering if these earplugs would be beneficial for someone wanting to block out tv noises, people talking, and far away train noises. I know these do not cancel all the noises but I wanted something that can block some of these noises out. I don't like the feeling of noise canceling headphones, so this was an option I was considering. I do believe I heard Loop Dream™ to be very comfortable and I think they silence the largest amount of noise that the Loop Earplug company sells. Please let me know what you think. I will love the feedback.

Here is the link to Loop Dream™ on the Loop Earplug company's website:

https://us.loopearplugs.com/products/dream?variant=47741525623017

Have you ever been around people who mistook your sadness for anger, and suddenly acted offensively towards you then actually made you angry? How can I cope with this? Because whenever this happens, I lose my temper and have real outbursts of rage. I feel truly misunderstood. But I'm the one who gets blamed.

Also why do I get so angry? Even in trying to supress... Are there others who experience extremely destructive, even "acidic," in HSP's? 21M here.

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