You’re Not Broken: Understanding The Nervous System Of a Highly Sensitive Person
If you've ever wondered, “Why do things affect me so deeply?” or “Why can’t I just brush it off like everyone else?” - you’re not alone. And more importantly: you’re not broken.
You may be a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), and there’s a biological, nervous-system-based reason for why the world feels more intense to you.
What It Means to Be Highly Sensitive
Being a Highly Sensitive Person isn’t a diagnosis. It’s a temperament trait rooted in a more finely tuned nervous system. Research shows that HSPs process information more deeply, feel emotions more intensely, and are more attuned to subtleties in their environment - all of which can be both a strength and a challenge.
Your Nervous System: More Alert, Not Defective
If you're an HSP, your nervous system picks up on more - sights, sounds, energy shifts, tension in a room. It’s like having your volume dial turned up in a world designed for medium settings.
You might:
Startle easily
Feel overwhelmed in crowds or loud environments
Need extra time to recover from stress or emotional intensity
Sense what others are feeling before they’ve said a word
Feel overstimulated by things that others barely notice
This isn’t about being too sensitive. It’s about having a differently wired system - one that processes and integrates deeply.
Signs This Might Be You
Here are a few questions to reflect on:
Do you notice small changes in your environment or other people’s moods?
Do you need more alone time than others to recharge?
Do you get easily overwhelmed by noise, bright lights, or busy spaces?
Do you often feel emotionally moved by art, music, or nature?
Have you been called “too sensitive” at any point in your life?
If you answered yes to many of these, you may be an HSP and it might bring relief to know there’s nothing wrong with you. There’s simply more right with your nervous system than the world often knows how to hold.
You’re Not Broken. You’re Built Differently
We live in a fast-paced, stimulation-heavy world that doesn’t always honor sensitivity. But the ability to feel deeply, to notice nuance, to care about the world around you? That’s a form of wisdom. Learning to understand your sensitivity, especially through the lens of your nervous system, can help you stop pathologizing your experience and start relating to yourself with more compassion.
Gentle Next Steps
If you haven’t already, check out my earlier blog post: “Understanding the Signs of Being an HSP.”
Follow along on my Instagram for more supportive content about HSPs, nervous system care, and gentle self-compassion.
Therapy can be a powerful space to explore your sensitivity and learn to live in harmony with it, not against it.
If this post resonates, I hope you’ll take a moment to breathe in this truth:
🖤 You are not too much. You’re just attuned.
🖤 You are not broken. You’re beautifully sensitive.
🖤 You don’t need to toughen up. You need to be understood.