So Sensitive — Empaths & Hyper Sensitivity
When people say, “You’re so sensitive,” they don’t usually mean it as a compliment. But lately when people say it to me, I respond with, “Thank you!”
Being an empath is both a blessing and a curse. Empaths (derived from the word “empathy”) are people that are highly sensitive to, and actually absorb energy and emotions of others around them. This makes them extremely vulnerable. At the same time, empaths are incredibly intuitive and, with practice, can harness their sensitivity to make good choices in life.
As you have probably guessed, I am an empath.
I used to see my sensitivity as a curse because, as it was, I used to suffer with frequent stomach flare-ups and anxiety. I was desperate to get my condition under control so I could go about my days feeling good, calm, and enjoy meals without discomfort. The last thing I needed was more stomach discomfort and high anxiety because of other people’s issues!
For years people have been telling me to trust my gut. I wanted to, but I didn’t know how. There was so much noise and clutter in my life, so I wasn’t able to hear what my gut was telling me. Perhaps I didn’t really want to hear what my gut had to say. On some level I knew that if I listened to my gut, I might be in store for big life changes, which came with pain and uncertainty, and so I wasn’t ready to hear it.
But my gut would not be silenced or ignored. Your gut wants to be heard! I was constantly feeling sick and anxious in certain situations and around certain people. I started to hear a literal voice in my head telling me something wasn’t right. I used to argue with myself, “What if that voice is wrong?” But a good friend reminded me, “Heather, it’s your voice. It’s not about what is right or wrong objectively. Whatever your voice is telling you is right for you!”
So while some decisions were scary and painful, I no longer questioned if I my gut was right. It was. It then just became a matter of how and when I could follow its advice. Decisions didn't necessarily get easier, but they did become clearer.
Looking back, I've always had a strong intuition and solid gut feelings.
I once dreamed about a married couple I knew. I dreamt they were going through marital troubles. I hadn’t seen or spoken to this couple for a while; I had no reason to believe they were having problems. I found out a month later that they recently had gotten divorced.
When my sister was very pregnant with my soon-to-be-niece, one morning, I woke up with such severe pain in my chest and stomach, I described it as “labor pains.” After the pains subsided, I checked my phone to discover my sister had gone into labor.
I have noticed over the years, as I went through various periods of anxiety and depression, they almost always aligned with similar bouts of anxiety and depression my father was having. I didn't live with my parents at the time, and they did not communicate my father’s emotional state with me, verbally or otherwise, so it was only energetically that I was sharing his experience.
Sometimes I would wake up feeling incredibly anxious for no apparent reason, only to find out later that day that someone close to me suffered a devastating loss.
My intuition became a sort of power of mine. A good friend once referred to me as a witch—capable of feeling and predicting things just by sensing them through my stomach, my core. So when I hear the term “witch,” I don’t necessarily feel insulted.
Similarly, snakes get a bad wrap. Thanks to the story of Adam & Eve, snakes have a reputation for being “low” creatures. But actually, being low to the ground gives snakes their powers to feel vibrations and heat from the earth. This allows them to know where and how to move. They are very self-aware creatures, able to perceive their surroundings and paths, by simply following the sounds of the ground and the energy beneath them.
I used to pride myself on not being able to notice the smell of urine in the subway or the sound of loud sirens on the street—I was a real New Yorker! But as I get older and more sensitive, I’m accepting my sensitivity as a witch, snake, or otherwise.
Can you relate?