I have always thought that I have felt emotions much more strongly than others. At baseline, I don’t feel a whole lot of positive or negative, but a stimulus easily puts me into overdrive, like the volume knob on the stereo suddenly gets maxed out and the gas pedal gets stuck down.
I bet a lot of you can relate to this. Everyone has things that make them different than others. This is one of mine. Sometimes, it can make it different to function in life. But it also has good things…the highs feel really high and I think it makes me very empathetic and much more inclined to be kind. Things are pathologized when we don’t fit nearly I do the functional box that society wants us to. Nothing has ever changed this quality about me…not therapy or medications. It is who I am and it bothers a lot of people and even myself.
But I think our brains are just wired differently than some. And that’s ok. It what makes you authentically you. It’s what makes you empathetic.
I will give you a quote by Pearl S. Buck that I really resonated with…
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.
The first line that I omitted is about creativity but I don’t think this necessarily correlates with that. For me it doesn’t, anyway.
You are not alone.