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As far as I can remember, I have always struggled with fitting in, even when I played roles to be accepted, popular, and loved.

Despite that, people still found me “weird.” I believed it and even started using the term when talking about myself, until I recently met two incredibly enlightened ladies who saw through me and led me to view myself in a different light, from a different angle, for the first time in my life.

As I used the term “weird” in one of my conversations, one of them kindly interrupted me to tell me that I am different—not weird. I am fascinated by these ladies and really admire them, so I was so sure that I would freak them out if the “real me” showed up.

Let’s face it, I can be “too much” and my too-muchness can be a bit edgy, causing others discomfort. I took the risk anyway because I was never understood in the past, but I still had friends, and some of them did like me.

However, my new friends did something that I needed more than love and acceptance: they understood me. Oftentimes, I find myself explaining myself and decoding my personality to the closest people—not this time. The term soul sister makes sense now, and my high sensitivity is not mistaken for something else.

I do not want to jinx this, and I am beyond blessed and grateful to finally find people who get it. It made me wonder, though, about the other highly sensitive people who are living in the fast, loud world where everything spiritual, invisible, intangible, and emotional is disregarded and “moved to trash” only to be replaced by the physical, advanced, modern, technological, commercial, and financial.

It can be overwhelming, but it can also be a superpower we can use for good if we manage it properly. After all, you are naturally perceptive, intuitive, creative, passionate, empathetic, and self-aware. Hang in there.

These are eight signs that you might be a highly sensitive person. (Not every single one of them has to be applicable; for instance, I like violent and horror movies, but the seven other signs apply to me.)

>> You feel deeply and tend to be more emotionally reactive.
>> You prefer to exercise alone.
>> It takes you longer to make decisions.
>> You pay attention to subtlety and small details in general.
>> You are highly conscientious and have extremely good manners.
>> You are prone to having anxiety or depression, especially if you’ve had many bad past experiences.
>> Violent/horror movies are not your cup of tea.
>> You work well in team environments.

And these are the eight things that make a highly sensitive person hard to love:

>> Picking up on every emotion.
>> Perceiving every little detail.
>> Being able to catch lies.
>> Taking things too slow.
>> Getting overwhelmed too easily.
>> Needing too much space.
>> Being too conflict averse.
>> Neglecting your own self-care.

You can watch the full videos here: 

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