“Does Anyone Else Feel that Being an HSP is Awful?”
So said a young father-to-be in a FB group this past week. He’s posted a question in the style of many in these groups that seem to have not yet undertaken the work of embracing their traits. The problem this young man posed was this:
“Does anyone else feel that being an HSP is awful?”
I responded with a brief but upbeat message of encouragement and a link to MenPathic.com and told him that I’d also felt that same sentiment before I did the work to embrace my traits and learn to see them not just limitations, but windows to a meaningful way of living.
I urged him to read further about both HSP and empathic traits as it’s the first step to embracing them. He countered that he wasn’t convinced and rejected my approach. He is, of course, free to hold this deeply felt sense of conviction.
Reading the many comments on that thread that was split about with approximately 60 percent in defense of the traits and 40 percent in agreement with his opinion gave me pause to consider how I’ve described the work involved in embracing them.
The think that reason I’ve not delineated a distinct path for embracing our shared traits is that there isn’t one that’s a one-size-fits-all solution. We are as individual in both the experience and expression of our characteristics as waves in the ocean.
The closest I can come to a definitive process is that I’ve represented in the Special Edition of the MenPathic Magazine (download it for free by clicking here) on The Superhero’s Journey. It represents the cycle of experience I believe each HSP and empath must undertake to no longer think of their traits as ‘awful.’
As I review this cycle of experience, I am reminded that it wasn’t all that long ago that I, too, felt as limited and dismal about my traits as this young man I’ve mentioned. I didn’t know whey I felt everything at full volume. I was unhappy with the past and depressed about the future.
I was like many of the those I see populating the Facebook Groups dedicated to HSP and Empathic traits that put forth a question that touches on only one small aspect of the traits and expect agreement.
The difference between us
The difference between this young man and me—and many of those who post similar questions—is that I didn’t settle for the status quo.
Like Apple, I rejected the notion that the status quo is the limit of my reality. I knew I was not only willing to do the more profound work of self-discovery but that I wasn’t going to settle for what life dealt me without investigating it for myself.
I read the books, I sat with what I learned, I searched for and connected with other HSPs and empaths. I was willing to do more than just complain about how limited I felt; I was ready to endure the dark night of the soul, as it were.
We each have a choice
We can choose the status quo and accept our limitations, or we can do the work and embrace the superpowers that lie underneath the limits.
The choice is yours. By choosing one, you reject the other.
Which will you choose?