being sensitive is lifes greatest gift
From the moment I could express myself verbally, I was deemed “sensitive.”
It started when I struggled to make friends on the playground or would be forced to get rid of a stuffed animal that held some intrinsic, sentimental value to me — and as a result, I would feel an almost unbearable sadness. I remember the guilt I held for the ladybugs I watched the boys in Middle School capture, or the spiders my teachers would kill in the classroom. An ache formed in my chest whenever I could sense somebody else's sadness and I felt every emotion — both good and bad — viscerally.
My parents called me sensitive when I’d experience these feelings in response to something miniscule, and my friends call me sensitive (although not in a bad way), when I over-analyze an interaction, a simple exchange of words or even the small, simple things around me.
Recently, a trend has surfaced on TikTok about viewing things from a different perspective, but what specifically stood out to me was people repeatedly using the phrase “I feel so deeply” to mean something positive rather than negative.
I think so many girls can relate to being called sensitive backed by a negative connotation — however I truly think that being sensitive is the greatest way to live.
We as humans only have limited time on this earth and tend to push our feelings somewhere deep and hidden. Whenever we react “emotionally” to something, we are often met with ridicule, but what makes human life so incredible and differentiable from any other life form is our ABILITY to feel things.
If I were an alien on a different planet that didn’t have the privilege of feeling ANYTHING — happiness, joy, elation, euphoria, sadness, etc. — but I was given the opportunity to live as a human for an extended period of time, I’d CHOOSE to live with the ability to feel things deeply and be sensitive.
Because what a waste it would be of our conscious potential NOT to feel everything whole-heartedly.
Even though heartbreak, betrayal and depression feels much more potent in a sensitive mind, it means that all of the good feelings are amplified all the same.
It means that I can watch a sunset and feel as though the vivid colors spreading across the sky are also spreading somewhere deep in my heart too, or I can love my friends so much, I’ll drop everything to write them a card or make them jewelry when I know they’re sad. It means laughing with people that I care for and singing songs on summer nights, or the small things that bring me joy also bring me such a great sense of fulfillment.
But subjectively more importantly, it means that when I make a mistake, or feel that sadness — I am able to learn an even greater lesson from it.
Life is far too short to live with a closed heart, and a world that is filled with hatred, polarization and dissonance — it is so important that we make a conscious effort to not only lead with kindness, but with sensitivity for ourselves and the world around us.
I now take being called sensitive as a compliment, and I truly think everyone else should do the same.
