Being a highly sensitive person is often phased as being “over-sensitive” and portrayed negatively. The truth is, being a highly sensitive person is a gift that should be met with gratitude. It gives you unique and valuable skills and a view of the world that so few other people will ever have.

There are also a number of secret superpowers of highly sensitive people that many people would envy. These powers are special parts of you that make you uniquely who you are.

Secret Superpowers of Highly Sensitive People

1. They Are Empathetic

High sensitivity and empathy go hand in hand. Sometimes, the terms are even used interchangeably. Perhaps the best superpower of highly sensitive people is their ability to experience what other people are feeling. They experience these feelings so deeply that they often feel like their own.

If someone they care for is sad, anxious, angry, or even happy and excited, a highly sensitive person will be able to pick this up without any words exchanged. Even more so, they’ll feel these feelings for themselves so deeply they sometimes can’t separate them from their own.

Sometimes, a highly sensitive person will be empathetic even to the feelings of total strangers. Simply by seeing or being near another person, they could be able to pick up on their feelings.

This secret superpower of highly sensitive people sometimes runs even deeper, often enabling them to pick up if someone is feeling unwell, and immediately understand what kind of care they need.

2. They Are Considerate

Due to the fact that highly sensitive people are so deeply empathetic, they also have a superpower-like considerate nature. They immediately understand the needs of others and often go out of their way to ensure that they’re being considerate of the people around them.

This might mean being aware of maintaining personal space or avoiding taking up too much of someone’s time. What is most important to the highly sensitive person is that they are not the cause of someone else’s stress and that they have done everything in their power to alleviate any existing stress.

This secret superpower of a highly sensitive person often allows them to anticipate the needs of others too. This might mean offering food, drink, or comfort to someone who hasn’t even asked for those things out loud but is in desperate need.

3. They Are Open-Minded

A hidden superpower of highly sensitive people is the way they view the world. They may even believe other people see things the same way they do, and entirely miss how unique their way of thinking makes them.

Highly sensitive people don’t see problems as black and white, they see multiple sides of every situation and aren’t limited to one way of thinking. They are open to all possibilities. This allows them to see and understand where other people are coming from and have a much wider view of the world.

4. They Have Great Intuition

One of the most special secret superpowers of highly sensitive people is their innate hyperawareness of the world around them. Their intuition is so strong that by just walking into a room they can detect the overall mood. If there’s tension between people, a highly sensitive person will know about it.

Their great gut instincts also apply to individual people. A single meeting with someone will allow a highly sensitive person to learn everything they need to know. If someone has bad intentions, is hiding something, or is not to be trusted, they’ll know it almost immediately.

It’s an innate reaction they can’t switch off. In particular, highly sensitive people are almost impossible for narcissists to convince. A deep instinct in them can detect the red flags straight away.

5. They Have Great Imaginations

Highly sensitive people are usually naturally creative due to their expansive, open imaginations. Their inner lives, the life they lead inside their own minds, is so vibrant and bright. They are naturally very expressive, making them excellent artists, dancers, musicians, and writers.

When it comes to problem-solving, their huge imaginations become a secret superpower for highly sensitive people. Their ability to visualise a number of scenarios and watch them play out makes them valuable problem-solvers and great moderators when other people are struggling with a disagreement.

Their minds often run wild with creative thoughts that lead them into brand new worlds, allowing them to see all sorts of situations from many different points of view.

6. They Are Good Listeners

We often assume that no one really wants to hear what we have to say, but when it comes to highly sensitive people, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Their genuine desire to hear what other people are thinking is so strong it could be considered a secret superpower of highly sensitive people.

Not only do highly sensitive folks want to listen, but they show this so clearly in the way they engage with the person talking. When a highly sensitive person is listening to you speak, you’ll immediately feel supported and understood, because they genuinely do understand.

Their empathetic nature allows them to experience exactly what others are telling them about, and they show this with genuine sympathy and interest.

7. They Love Very Deeply

Due to their naturally huge hearts and depth of care for others, the intensity of their love is definitely a secret superpower of highly sensitive people. They feel every feeling very deeply, especially the feeling of love.

They feel a deep urge to care for and support the people they love, often to the point of sacrificing themselves to save their friends and family. Highly sensitive people are incredibly loyal and will put the needs of their loved ones above their own.

Often, this deep feeling of love will also apply to complete strangers. If a person is in need, their innate urge to care for others will overtake them and they’ll be forced to act. This is in part due to their empathetic nature.

As a highly sensitive person can feel exactly what other people are feeling, they are more compelled than some might be to ease the suffering of others.

8. They Make Great Leaders

We’ve all suffered under the control of a boss or team leader who shows no sympathy or understanding for the hard work we’ve put in. Another one of the secret superpowers of highly sensitive people is that they make great leaders for that exact reason.

Their empathetic nature and ability to understand the needs and feelings of other people allows them to be the gentlest and most encouraging leaders possible. They can guide their teams to success using respect and kindness that makes a person want to work hard for themselves, not for fear of punishment if they don’t.

Their understanding of other people’s feelings means they’ll never work anyone too hard or push them to a point where they feel too stressed or unwell, so they’ll always work at their very best.

Being a highly sensitive person can feel overwhelming and painful at times, more like a curse than a gift. It’s important to take a step back sometimes and remind yourself that you have hidden superpowers that no one else has. Your abilities make you a highly sought-after co-worker, classmate, partner, and best friend.

References:

  1. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2165222816660077
  2. The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine N. Aron

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. Daisy

    i feel like you’re talking about me while reading this article. most of the time i hate myself as a highly sensitive person but now i guess i should learn to love this side of me more and more.

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