There are bright lights and lots of people. Music is pumping and there is plenty going on. It is a feast for the senses. Is this setting your idea of heaven? Or would you be looking for the exit before too long and go home feeling exhausted and drained? If you are a highly sensitive person, then highly stimulating environments are taxing on your system. You might enjoy them for a while, but they drain you; you get overwhelmed by it all. Too much stimulation for too long and you will get tired, irritable or distressed.

Our culture is so loud and fast-paced that we think it’s normal to live this way. Ads scream from every available space, music blasts from every corner and we are swamped with a barrage of electronic information every day. Some people think they thrive on this heightened stimulation. People with mid-range sensitivity can tolerate it (but even they get worn down). For the highly sensitive person, though, it is very depleting.

Many people are highly sensitive without even realising it. Because there is an implicit pressure to appear “normal” and fit in with the status quo of our loud, busy culture, many people use stimulants such as coffee, sugar, energy drinks and alcoholic beverages that artificially keep them going. Your highly sensitive nature may be camouflaged and propped up by the use of these stimulants.

It’s interesting to note that after oil, coffee is the most traded commodity on the planet. Human beings love their stimulants! Perhaps the whole of humanity is actually exhausted but doesn’t even know it.

The risk with using artificial stimulants is they don’t protect you from the barrage of stimulation around you. In fact, they increase its impact on your body. They mask the exhaustion you will be feeling deep within. And if you don’t recognise how depleted you are, you won’t take the necessary steps to protect yourself. It’s better to acknowledge your sensitivity and work with your true nature. An attitude of self-care will promote wellbeing and may prevent illness in the future.

Are you highly sensitive?

You may have seen the Hollywood version of a highly sensitive person at the movies. They are the “empath” employed by some national security organisation to deliver intelligence information that wouldn’t be available to the typical spy or action hero. The empath can read people or situations and can sense an atmosphere. It’s not that they are psychic; they’re not picking up information from some other plane of reality. But they can sense people’s intent or determine whether a location was the site of some highly charged event. They deliver this information to their employers to help in tracking down the bad guys.

The movie “empath” is not all that far off the reality. A highly sensitive person is indeed someone who is very aware of the subtle signals in their surroundings. It’s like the skin between them and the outside world is thin compared with other people. For example, if people have been arguing in a room, a highly sensitive person will pick up on this atmosphere. Someone who is not sensitive will just carry on regardless without noticing the energy of the place.

Highly sensitive people are receptive to the stimulation around them. They notice the sights, sounds, mood and tone of everything they encounter. They can sense the energy of people and places and therefore have access to this subtle level of “information” coming in all the time. For example, they will notice how someone they meet is feeling that day, what emotion the person may be hiding and what their true opinion about something is regardless of that person’s polite demeanour or pleasantly spoken words.