My Name is Carrie and I am a Highly Sensitive Person,

 

From the time I was a child, I struggled with feeling deeply hurt by the things that others seemed to shrug off.  I would notice when my friend’s parents were having friction.  I was always easily startled by the slightest unexpected sound.  I created worlds in my mind of a life and place I wanted to be.  I was considered painfully shy. Even when I was younger I pondered thoughts that could make one’s head spin.  I hated and of course still do, conflict and avoid it at the cost of my own true sanity. When I am watching a TV show with violence I will gasp and sigh while someone else will have no response.  I am oddly not a perfectionist, but am definitely detail oriented.  I have always had a certain ability to put myself in someone else’s shoes.  As I have gotten older I cannot stand the way some clothes feel against my skin; it can be the texture of the material or if it is too tight or up against my neck.  Even at the age I am now, I still utterly struggle with criticism or the idea of having done something wrong.  It will put me into a mental tizzy of recounting in my head of the events and feeling devastated. 

I guess one could argue whether I actually am a highly sensitive person or an empath, but having read some articles like this one about both, it all certainly makes sense.  I feel like I have discovered something important; a clue, an answer, and some missing pieces to a puzzle that I longed to finish but truly never could.