By the time Elaine Aron had published her landmark book, “The Highly Sensitive Person,” I was already 26 years-old and had accepted the mainstream lie that I should be ashamed of, and resistant to, my high sensitivity. Today, thanks to personal growth and self-acceptance, I no longer apologize for my keen nervous system. Au contraire. I’m grateful to have more bandwith, more receptivity, more processing power. Well, most days, anyway 
And I’m teaching myself how to convert work-angst into work-joy.
Whether you’re HSP, INFP, empathic, or some other expression of heightened sensitivity and awareness, the internet offers us some of the most suitable — and profitable — outlets for our unique gifts. Here’s why:
1. We like to focus. Our long attention spans and insatiable curiosity help us to develop wide ranges of knowledge and expertise. The attention-deficient world we live in marvels at our ability to keep our minds wrapped around an idea, subject or task for hours on end. This is an asset for us to leverage.
2. We like to create. Our robust inner life often manifests in very beautiful, enlivening expressions. Rather than repeat and report what has already been done before, we are far more likely to present fresh, original material. Inspiration and imagination are natural states in which we reside. This is an asset for us to leverage.
3. We like to heal/help. Our compassion and tenderheartedness leads us to find ways to heal ourselves and others. Because our ’skin’ is not tough and calloused, we feel and perceive subtleties that others overlook. Or ignore. We know how to skillfully respond to hurts, and this is an asset for us to leverage.
These assets lend themselves particularly well to niche websites — online businesses that fuse our passions and interests with others’ needs and desires.
In its simplest form, niche = ”to nest”. A nest, of course, is a place of refuge to hold an animal’s eggs and/or provide a place to raise their offspring.
Have you been thinking about ways to create your ideal work, or your ideal work environment? Have you been trying to figure out the best place to store your creative, entrepreneurial eggs? If so, SBI is an option for you to consider.
P.S. (Added 11.26.08) – When I wrote the above posting one week ago, I had no idea that it would be a gateway into what may very well turn out to be my life’s work:
http://www.joyful-work-for-sensitive-people.com
It’s under construction right now, but will go live very soon — before the end of this year is my intent. Please stay tuned! (IT’S NOW LIVE!) I am totally committed to giving Sensitive People the vocational help I have been so desperate to find for myself.
With Much Love,
Erika
Tags: Elaine Aron, empath, healer, highly sensitive person, HSP, INFP, joyful-work-for-sensitive-people.com, nest, niche, SBI, Site Build It!
November 19, 2008 at 5:51 pm |
Pearl S. Buck, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938, said this about highly sensitive people:
“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create — so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.”
We must. Create. Something of meaning.
November 19, 2008 at 9:03 pm |
I love that response!
December 24, 2008 at 11:13 pm |
This is an incredible blog entry. A great new perspective on Highly Sensitive People!! Thank you
January 1, 2009 at 9:32 pm |
I am blown away by the description of HSP here. I never thought I would hear myself defined in a positive way. I have tried to be who I am–a creative person with empathy and focus (as Trailblazer defines above) in the system as an educator but, though successful with my charges–children in art, drama, creative writing and music classes; students learning English and intellectually challenged adults–I have been rebuffed and rejected over and over by the bureaucracy and by the “powers that be”, so much so that I now feel my energies are allergic to working in institutional environments. I now find myself with no niche in society, no where to ply my skills to help learners. All my life my family and the institutions have told me over and over that I was too sensitive and, even though my students won provincial art awards; choral speech festival awards; awards for being the first handicapped adult choir in the city, I have suffered terribly in the system and in a bullying and egoic minded society that cannot validate the gifts of the HSP that lifeblazing describes so well.
I decided that I would breathe into the universe and meditate on places where I could use my gifts. Recently it brought me to a mother whose daughter, a talented 22-year old poet, was killed in a car accident. I read this young woman’s extraordinary writing and told her mother I would like to edit the manuscript into a more professional draft that we could send to publishers. She told me i was sent to her and she believes in me and that it was the universe that made our chance meeting on a ferry boat into the relationship it has become. After I did the treatment of the poems, I sent them to all my writer colleagues and one university professor and published poet wrote back that the manuscript was moving. He gave the name of a publisher to submit it to. This hasn’t brought me a “career” or a way to support myself, but I am praying that people everywhere will find me and that I can help them develop their writings. This is my dream for my gifts.
Presently, I have no place to live, no money and no job. I stay with my mother who doesn’t understand HSP in the least. Today she said I was autistic. (I finished in the top five of my class and won piano competitions and scholarships.) I am tired of trying to defend myself in a world that doesn’t support who I am.
I am so happy I found this group on Facebook with people like Lifeblazing who help me define my place in the universe and give me hope that I am not an inadequate failure because I can’t function in the system.
January 3, 2009 at 12:33 am |
@Janel & @russell – Deepest thanks, Ladies, for your visit and your positive words!
@Joanne Light – Bless you. For the investments you’ve made in your students. For the power it took to stand against/within systems and institutions that insist upon their precious Boxes. For the self-awareness you use as True Navigation. For the sacrifices you’ve made to simply Be You. Bless you! Things are shifting in our favor, Joanne. A world ready to self-implode cries out for our sensitive touch and influence. Thankfully, there are pioneering, edgy women who give a damn — like you — who have the fresh, new insights and guidance that will *lovingly* lead us into an unprecedented game that has no losers. It’s my humble opinion that you aren’t meant to “function in the system.” You’re meant to transcend it.
January 7, 2009 at 2:50 pm |
It is wonderful to be described positively. I think this is a fantastic idea and will make a great difference in people’s lives.
January 8, 2009 at 4:56 pm |
@Isabel – YOU’RE wonderful, and fully deserving of the positive descriptions. Thanks so much for your supportive words!
January 9, 2009 at 12:41 pm |
Love to hear people write their stories here and so grateful for Erika’s beautiful site and comments. I pray other HSPs will find this site and the group on Facebook “Highly Sensitive Poeple” I like being defined.
April 15, 2009 at 10:23 am |
After reading this article, I just feel that I need more info. Could you suggest some resources please?
April 15, 2009 at 11:54 am |
@How to Get Six Pack Fast – Thanks for asking! I compiled a list of recommended reading here:
http://www.joyful-work-for-sensitive-people.com/bookstore.html