Are you a Highly Sensitive Creative?
Starry Night Sky by jplenio from Pixabay
Years ago I was really struggling in my chosen – and much wanted – career as an artist and creative educator. I felt constantly overwhelmed and exhausted, and I was giving myself a hard time about my inability to 'get it together' and make the best of the wonderful opportunities in my life at the time.
One of my very wise close friends handed me their copy of The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron. Reading it sewed many seeds for me - not only did it lead to me dramatically changing many parts of my creative career over the years, but it also helped me to find my path of becoming a creativity coach for super sensitive people.
I reference being highly sensitive a lot, so I thought it might be useful to create a post that outlines some of the key apsects of the trait. Perhaps you already identify as a highly sensitive person, in which case I hope this will be a useful recap. Or maybe the term is completely new to you and you are curious to learn more - if so welcome to the world of HSPs!
In this post I'm going to give you a whistle-stop tour of what I understand being highly sensitive to mean, how the trait often manifests in creative people and some of the common experiences myself and my clients have as highly sensitive creatives.
This posts includes:
What does ‘highly sensitive person’ mean?
The history of Elaine Aron's Highly Sensitive Person research.
Some key facts about highly sensitive people.
What does being HSP look like?
The DOES acronym as a useful tool.
Some common misconceptions around HSPs.
Being taught to believe that sensitivity is a flaw.
What does ‘highly sensitive person’ mean?
A highly sensitive person (HSP) is thought to have an more sensitive central nervous system (CNS) to physical, emotional, environmental, and social stimuli. It is also known in the medical community as Sensory-processing Sensitivity or SPS.
Being highly sensitive is thought to be a trait that individuals are born with. However the environment on which an HSP grows up can have a significant impact on their experiences of being highly sensitive in our society, with many finding thriving our cultures geared towards ess sensitive people a challenge. However it's important to remember that there are also many positive HSP traits, one of these being creativity!
But to begin, let's look a bit more at where the term HSP comes from and what it means...
The history of Elaine Aron's Highly Sensitive Person research
Psychologist Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. began researching high sensitivity in 1990, curious about the use of the terms “sensitive” or “highly sensitive” as a casual descriptors found in the case studies of patients. This led to her conducting qualitative interviews with participants who described themselves as 'highly sensitive', 'highly introverted' or 'easily overwhelmed by stimulation'.
This research grew into the 1996 book 'The Highly Sensitive Person' which has now sold over 500,000 copies and played a key role in helping sensitive people to understand, accept, support and celebrate who they are.
Image by @sinzianasusa from Unsplash
Some key facts about highly sensitive people
While no two HSPs are exactly the same, research into the trait has identifed these facts and statistics:
15 – 20% of the population are highly sensitive or HSP.
50% of the population have a medium degree of sensitivity and about 30% fall within the low sensitivity range.
It is also referred to as sensory-processing sensitivity, or SPS.
There are highly sensitive people of all genders.
Being highly sensitive is a trait, not an illness or a disorder.
In babies, often high sensitivity can be recognised at birth.
Research has found the trait in 20% of many animals too – over 100 species have HSP members.
Not all HSPs are introverted – it is thought around 70% are introverts, but 30% are extraverts, also known as HSEs. (As a quick aside, both ‘extroverted’ and ‘extraverted’ are valid spellings of the word, with the ‘a’ mostly being used in psychological texts.)
What does being HSP look like?
Of course, not all HSPs are exactly the same and experiences can differ! But common signs of the trait include:
Feeling overwhelmed and over-stimulated by high sensory environments, for example spaces filled with lots of people, loud environments, hard bright lighting…basically every shopping centre and children's birthday party. Aron writes 'What is highly arousing for most people causes an HSP to become very frazzled indeed, until they reach a shutdown point called “transmarginal inhibition.”
(From The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron)
Often feeling the need to escape and find a safe place like being at home, or even in a darken room to recover from interactions with the world. This isn't necessarily because you an introvert who prefers their own company, but stems more from finding experiences too stimulating and needing time with less stimulation so you can feel grounded again.
Highly sensitive people are usually very empathetic. This can be a real gift in making others feel seen, heard and supported, and is sometimes talked about as a 'sixth sense' intuition around people's needs (including the needs of animals as well as humans!). However it can also mean that the moods of those around you affect you too.
You might avoid violent or frightening movies or television as you find them distressing. In my personal case it’s anything which has minor peril, and my way of coping with this is to distract myself on my phone so I don’t get too emotional engaged and overwhelmed. I’m very difficult to watch TV with.
A need to pause before acting. HSPs tend to need time to think and consider before making a decision about something. This can make high pressure or urgent activities very stressful.
Some HSPs are high sensory seeking – meaning they have a sensitive nervous system and a strong Behavioral Activation System (BAS) which leads to a strong natural curiosity to try new things. These HSPs are more likely to be high sensation or novelty seeking people who long to 'go for it' in life, but my find themselves conflicted by their need for lower risk levels to feel safe.
A sensitivity to stimulants such as caffeine. Like how that second cup of coffee seemed like such a great idea, but the anxiety and pounding heart are making you wonder if perhaps that was a mistake...
You are moved deeply by beauty. You might be a passionate nature or animal lover, find the visual arts and music connect you to powerful feelings or simple notice the tiny, underappreciated moments of the every day.
A 'rich and complex inner life’ as Aron puts it in The Highly Sensitive Person. So lots of thoughts, lots of feelings, lots of emotions to experience and manage every day. This isn’t a flaw, just a facet of who you are. But you may need more time and energy for self-care practices then a person who has a less complex internal world.
You are a creative and love to express yourself through creativity. Most HSPs have a creative side with a vivid imagination, and many of us choose to devote our lives to the arts. In fact, in her newsletter Comfort Zone Aron once wrote 'I know ALL HSPs are creative, by definition. Many have squashed their creativity because of their low self-esteem; many more had it squashed for them, before they could ever know about. But we all have it...'
(From Elaine Aron’s Comfort Zone newsletter)
While it often initially seems that there are more cons then pros in these lists, don't forget to value the power of the positives of the trait!
As Elaine Aron writes in the book The Highly Sensitive Child “Highly sensitive individuals are those born with a tendency to notice more in their environment and deeply reflect on everything before acting, as compared to those who notice less and act quickly and impulsively. As a result, sensitive people, both children and adults, tend to be empathic, smart, intuitive, creative, careful, and conscientious…”
(From The Highly Sensitive Child by Elaine Aron)
If you'd like to take the HSP quiz by Elaine Aron you can find using the button below:
The DOES acronym as a useful tool
Aron uses the DOES acronym as a useful too to summarise the different aspects of high sensitivity. Here's how it's described on 'Simply Psychology':
D – Depth of processing. This means that things are thought through more thoroughly and how it can affect others, with lots of time needed to think about life and how the HSP feels about it.
O – Overstimulation. This is when HSPs get overstimulated by stimuli such as noise and lights. They may need a lot of time to recharge after being stimulated and may actively avoid unpleasant stimuli.
E – Emotional reactivity and empathy. Not to be confused with being an empath, HSPs can know how someone is feeling, can sense other’s moods and hate conflict.
S – Sensing the subtle. HSPs are able to notice small changes in people and their environment. They can often sense when someone is upset and change their behavior to make the other person more comfortable.
Some common misconceptions around HSPs
All HSPs are introverts – While 70% of HSPs are introverts, 30% are actually extraverts. Highly sensitive extraverts or ‘HSEs’ still experience many of the HSP traits, they are drawn to connecting with people, get lonely when alone for long periods and often like to process their thoughts verbally. This can make for a wonderful combination, but HSEs also have a smaller area of social 'comfort zone' and may need to be more concious that they have enough quiet time to recover from social interactions.
HSPs are selfish and manipulative – Because of their sensitive nervous systems and deep emotions, HSPs can be perceived as high maintenance, drama queens or demanding. While I'm sure there are some HSPs out there who can be selfish, an aspect of the trait is being caring and empathetic. However highly sensitive people can struggle with setting boundaries around what they need, which can lead to self-protective outbursts when it all just gets too much.
HSPs are fragile and weak with no resilience – Because of society’s judgements around sensitivity it's often assumed that highly sensitive people are somehow lacking in resilience and the ability to adapt to situations. In fact most HSPs are very adaptable, perhaps to their detriment as they have spent a life time trying to fit in to a culture that does not understand their needs. Similarly any HSP who operates in an environment like the art world will have plenty of resilience. What they might need more of is the belief that they can ask for their needs to met so they can function at their best, rather than having to use lots of energy masking and coping with overstimulating situations,
HSPs are mostly women. There is definitely more of a presence of women in highly sensitive spaces, but men are just as likely to be sensitive. However in many cultures sensitivity in men is seen as weakness, and those raised as boys are therefore conditioned to hide their sensitivity or express it in more socially acceptable way. So far I haven't been able to find any reviewed research around what percentage of non-binary and gender expansive people are highly sensitive but will update this post with any relevant information when I do.
Being taught to believe that sensitivity is a flaw
As I've touched upon already, unfortunately in many societies being sensitive is seen as a personality flaw. The fact that we still live in a world where it is considered acceptable to describe people as 'over-sensitive', 'thin-skinned' and tell them they 'think too much' shows just how far we still have to go for HSPs to be fully accepted for who they are. This can be frustrating as small changes in environments like workplaces can make a big difference to highly sensitive people, letting them use all of those sensitivity superpowers rather than being drained by 'managing' a situation that is incompatible with their needs.
Many sensitive people also carry with them the shame of being told there is something wrong with them from a young age. This can lead to wasting lots of time and energy trying to change themselves to fit in and 'fix' what they perceive as their flaws. This is such a shame, as when sensitive people are able to embrace who they are and understand their own needs they can put that energy into wonderful things that bring so much to the world...like their creativity!
How does this relate to being creative?
’HSPs tend to be visionaries, highly intuitive artists, or inventors, as well as more conscientious, cautious, and wise people.’
Elaine Aron, The Highly Sensitive Person
So you may be wondering how being HSP can impact creativity, and what it looks like to be a highly sensitive creative.
Well this is different for everyone but some common experiences of HSP creatives that I have observed with clients and in group sessions are:
✨ A love of creating things, and in exploring material processes that bring you sensory joy or pleasure.
✨ Finding endless inspiration in the world around you, often responding to elements like light, nature, people's emotional stories and personal connection.
✨ A longing to make things in response to the world as a place of self-expression and an opportunity to connect with others.
✨ Being very skilled in many creative areas, and often having more than one creative passion.
And some common shared challenges that appear are:
⚡️ Fear of rejection, especially around sharing your creative work and ideas with the world.
⚡️ Believing that you are not good enough yet, and that you have lots of work to do before you can identify as a creative.
⚡️ Finding change exhausting - Being a professional creative can mean regularly adapting as you learn what does and doesn't work. As a maker we often enjoy this part when creating, but when running a business all the different, evolving and moving parts can feel overwhelming.
⚡️ Online visibility - In the age of the personal brand there is a lot of pressure to appear in video, on 'Lives' and to share our personal stories...which is really difficult if you find criticism very painful and have learned to fear it (both real and our own critical voices!).
⚡️ Networking and reaching out to people. Sensitive people tend to deeply value authenticity and honesty in relationships. This can make networking feel really uncomfortable because there is a fear of coming across as fake. A sensitivity to being in loud, busy spaces can also make attending events feel more like a stressful chore than an opportunity to meet new people to work or collaborate with!
⚡️ Having lots of creative ideas and struggling to balance them with your needs. As Aron writes in The Highly Sensitive Person there is 'one other reason HSPs drive their bodies too hard, and that is their intuition, which gives some of them a steady stream of creative ideas. They want to express them all...If your creativity and intuition give you a million ideas, at some point, early, you will have to let most of them go, and you will have to make all kinds of difficult decisions.'
(From The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron)
Crossover traits
There are many HSP traits that cross over with other neurodivergences, which can leave people confused about whether they are 'really' an HSP or not.
Very introverted people can be unsure if they are HSP, or simply prefer time in their own company or with a few trusted people. A distinction that is often made around this is that 'Introverts are primarily fatigued by socializing, while sensitive people are fatigued by any kind of stimulation, in addition to socializing.'
The traits of highly sensitive extraverts and high sensory seeking HSPs share many similarities with those of ADHDers including Rejection sensitive dysphoria and emotional dysregulation that can be triggered by criticism, new opportunities or strong emotional experiences.
Autistic and ADHD folks also experience high sensory sensitivity that manifests in how they respond to different physical, emotional, environmental and social stimuli.
As our understanding of neurodivergent people grows, old theories around how different neurodivergences interact and relate are beginning to be challenged. It used to be thought that a person couldn't be both HSP and ADHD as the traits contradicted one another, but now we understand that different ‘neurotendancies’ interact and manifest in individuals in different ways.
I identify as a highly sensitive extravert, and am going through the process of an ADHD assessment. I find the research and information around both useful, and embracing both identities help me to accept myself and live in this world as a happier, more creative and well person. Even if I haven't yet found a formal title that fits perfectly, finding resources that I can recognise myself and my experiences within has been invaluable.
On this subject Aron writes '…Well, whatever we name this trait, the most recent research suggests that the general strategy of being more sensitive is determined by multiple genes, and these do not come with names on them. We scientists are creating the names—introverted, inhibited, shy, sensitive, and responsive. As we learn more, we will become more accurate. For now, if you are socially extroverted yet feel things deeply, ponder the meaning of life, reflect before acting, and need a lot of down time, please, be patient. If you are socially introverted but not especially bothered by loud noise, are not very emotional, and make decisions rather easily, please also be patient. We’ll get it right about you, too…'
Why I work with HSP creatives
When I first came across HSP theory I felt so damn seen.
While I have done many amazing things I am proud of in my 16 years as an artist and creative educator, I also experienced financial worry, burnout and periods where I was sure the only answer was to quit and get a ‘proper job’ so I could care for my many other needs.
As someone who had always struggled with things that others seemed to find easy, I had developed very low self-esteem, and believed most of my 'failures' as an artist were due to my personal flaws of being over-sensitive and just not ‘tough enough’ for the industry.
A lot of the advice about how to 'make it' as a creative I encountered from tutors and online mentors just didn't work for me at all. I would throw myself into following their instructions only to quickly end up overwhelmed.
Each failed attempt to do it 'the right way' would backfire, leading to many career pivots as I tried to find a way to do what I loved and not end up emotionally and physically exhausted in the process.
Understanding and accepting myself as a highly sensitive person was a really key part of this puzzle, and had a huge impact on my well-being and my relationship with my creativity. Which is why I now focus on supporting people as they navigate the path of their own unique relationship with creativity so they can understand, accept and embrace who they are too, and can make the things that really matter to them.
Was this post useful to you? If so please help me to offer these resources to the sensitive creatives who need them! It's easy, just share it with someone you know who might appreciate it. You can send them this email as a blogpost with the link https://www.eleanorchaney.com/on-creativity/are-you-a-highly-sensitive-creative