Home→Forums→Share Your Truth→Looking for others out there like me: HSP/HSSs
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Peter.
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February 18, 2015 at 3:46 pm #72965
RachaelParticipantI am a highly sensitive person who is also a high sensation seeker. I am looking for others out there like myself who score high on both the hsp self test and the hss self tests found here:
Highly sensitive people tend to be very empathetic, emotionally sensitive, sensitive to external sensations and reflective/introverted.
Highly sensation seeking people tend to need a lot of new experiences and stimulation to keep from getting bored. They love to travel and like doing new things. It is supposed to be rare to have a person who is both tyoes and there is not much written about it, but for those who suspect they might me, here are a couple of links:http://www.hsperson.com/pages/1May06.htm
What little I have found seems fascinating to me. One thing is that these people tend to feel as if they are hitting the gas and the breaks simultaneously in life and tend to have a unique set of obstacles to overcome, like a lot of internal conflict when it comes to what we look for in relationships and work.
I am looking for other people like me who are both types because I am curious how you balance these two competing and often conflicting sides of yourself.
February 18, 2015 at 11:43 pm #72985
Gertrude O.ParticipantHello Racheal, I am so thankful to you for bringing this forth. I did take the test and they both came out as strongly positive. I know I’m introverted but not also a sensation seeker plus highly sensitive to pain! I am discovering myself, and the more I do, the more I feel I would love to learn more.
Just recently, beginning of the year did I really understand myself, a little even though. I get pretty exhausted with so much conversation, I love darker rooms to recharge but I also love being an explorer. I thought myself as strange, the online world is teaching me a lot of what I hadn’t and probably would never have known about myself! I am pretty excited about learning me more and more. Thank you for the quizzes.February 19, 2015 at 8:34 am #72998RachaelParticipantGertrude, your welcome and isn’t fun to read about them both? I always felt pulled by two competing impulses and it is nice to understand why. I had just learned about highly sensitive people from a comment someone else had posted here about being upset by a movie. I looked it up and took the test but felt confused because even though I got all but one on the highly sensitive person test, I still felt a bit more adventureous that other HSPs, that is why everything made so much more sense when I took the high sensation seeking test. For me, I am very sensitive to lights, sounds, smells, and other sensations as well as to violent or upsetting movies. My husband teases me because I jump out of my chair when anything startling happens in a movie, even when I am bracing myself for it to happen. I also am very sensitive to pain and when I have a stressful or confrontational experience with another person it can stay with me for weeks and even years. On the other hand, I am addicted to travel, I have gone sky diving and I get bored really easily. I am also always looking for new or novel experiences. I thought it was interesting that Elaine suggested that there is a very limited range of stimuli we HSP/HSSs are comfortable with- too much and we’re overwhelmed, too little and were bored.
Do you mind if I ask what you do for a living? I am switching out of my career and trying to find a career that satisfies both aspects of myself. Being HSP, I am very reflective on human nature and I care very much about the deeper questions in life, but being HSS I get bored with routine. I have thought about being a public speaker and author to share what I have learned but I am afraid that being around large groups of people might leave me overstimulated and wiped out. I was just wondering what, if anything, you’ve done to resolve that tension in yourself.
November 16, 2016 at 12:03 pm #120514
PeterParticipantHi Rachael,
May not pick this up as original post from long ago. I hope you have well, enjoying life and work. Discovered HSS/HSP and it seems to be true for me too.
As a kid I was…well painfully shy…would hardly talk at school and had a small but close friendship circle. I often held back, was quiet, cautious and bit of a worrier. Unfortunately a fairly rough schools I’d be picked on because of this.
As a teenager, I grew more independent, enjoyed sports, reckless risk taking, night clubs and soft drugs. I’d be out all night and quiet in the day. Living a kinda of double life of shyness and reckless adventure.
As an adults, more extreme sports like whitewater kayaking, mountain biking and normal stupid drinking etc. But I had enough of that, and used travel and an ambitious career to get my kicks so to speak. 🙂 All the while being wallflower and wild one.
People found me unpredictable as one moment I’m a quiet worrier, to next risk-taker.
As an older adult, the drinking is sensible, partying more in balance with my life and I’m using my HSP/HSS as a strength.
My HSP side helps me work closely and with kindness with clients and I am able to pick up smallest things that make me better at my job. I now run my garden business, which has the physical challenge, variety and distance from distractions perfect for me.
My HSS helps me as a kind of entrepreneur running new projects and social groups.
I do love these characteristics that have hurt me so much in the past. I still struggle with worries, being effected by others moods and managing conflicts in relationships. I hope I can improve both my relationship with my girlfriend and with myself so that I can not overreact to the small Knocks we receive everyday. I’ve come so far from my misspent youth.
Can I ask do you find it ok to balance the excitement, overwelming feelings, reactions to small and large criticisms and inpulsiveness of relationships?
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