Highly Sensitive People HSP Community Group
The highly sensitive person (or HSP) is someone who cares deeply about everything ... feels emotions with great intensity ... is highly conscientious ... has a rich and complex inner life ... is very intuitive ... is often creative in a variety of ways... is easily overwhelmed and/or overstimulated. A HSP needs lots of quiet time,space, and freedom. If this sounds...
Hi everyone,
Here is a really bad experience which happened to me this week, and It was pretty hard so I wanted to share it with you because only you can understand.
So, it is a basic event, nothing bad, just life but it has been almost a trauma for me.
Someone let burn something in the kitchen, so the firealarm switched on. Nothing bad, only smoke.
Problem is, the sound of the firealarm was really strong, very shrill.
It was on midnight, I was tired so it did not help I think.
While the alarm was ringing so loudly, the only thing I have been able to think was "Please make this noise stop", I was almost paralyzed. Then I reacted it could be a fire when it started to stink in my bedroom.
I got ou of my bedroom like 5 or 10 minutes after the firealarm started. Everything was okay.
But after this, once it was finished my nerves were so tense that I felt so bad ! I got a breakdown, my feelings were exploding inside, it was awful !
That and the strong smell of burn which was telling to my brain "be careful you are going to choke", I barely slept that night.
I felt bad for 2 days because of a firealarm !
Moreover, I scared myself. Because if it has been a real fire, I could have died.
I did not have the common sense to check immediately it was not a real fire, and I did not help my roomate. It could have been bad !
I discovered sensitiveness is still a weakness !
My senses are sharp, again last time I smell my manager coming with the croissant like 30seconds before he entered the room !
So now, I am thinking in a crisis situation, where I would not have the time to think, how will I do ?
It scares me a bit, because that kind of situation can happen, and if I am alone, It could be very bad !
And having so sharp senses, it is incredible. So powerful and weak at the same time.
How a noise can destabilize a person so much ? It was not hours, it was only a several minutes and it got a really high impact on my body and on my brain.
Did something like that already happened to you ? what did you do to prevent it in the future ?
Here is a really bad experience which happened to me this week, and It was pretty hard so I wanted to share it with you because only you can understand.
So, it is a basic event, nothing bad, just life but it has been almost a trauma for me.
Someone let burn something in the kitchen, so the firealarm switched on. Nothing bad, only smoke.
Problem is, the sound of the firealarm was really strong, very shrill.
It was on midnight, I was tired so it did not help I think.
While the alarm was ringing so loudly, the only thing I have been able to think was "Please make this noise stop", I was almost paralyzed. Then I reacted it could be a fire when it started to stink in my bedroom.
I got ou of my bedroom like 5 or 10 minutes after the firealarm started. Everything was okay.
But after this, once it was finished my nerves were so tense that I felt so bad ! I got a breakdown, my feelings were exploding inside, it was awful !
That and the strong smell of burn which was telling to my brain "be careful you are going to choke", I barely slept that night.
I felt bad for 2 days because of a firealarm !
Moreover, I scared myself. Because if it has been a real fire, I could have died.
I did not have the common sense to check immediately it was not a real fire, and I did not help my roomate. It could have been bad !
I discovered sensitiveness is still a weakness !
My senses are sharp, again last time I smell my manager coming with the croissant like 30seconds before he entered the room !
So now, I am thinking in a crisis situation, where I would not have the time to think, how will I do ?
It scares me a bit, because that kind of situation can happen, and if I am alone, It could be very bad !
And having so sharp senses, it is incredible. So powerful and weak at the same time.
How a noise can destabilize a person so much ? It was not hours, it was only a several minutes and it got a really high impact on my body and on my brain.
Did something like that already happened to you ? what did you do to prevent it in the future ?
As I get older my reactions to sound have intensified. With sirens I feel like I must be going into a panic attack. I get jittery and very weak feeling. And indeed after something like you went through, I wouldn't get much if any sleep either and what I did get would be fitful at best. With fire alarms I keep track of how long they go on as it seems many people just ignore them (?) and if the fire department needs to be called I'll do it. With something like that I can react yet afterwards I am a nervous mess.
I have some ideas that might help all of us here. Tell yourself that alarms/sirens are our allies. They help to warn us. This is something that needs to be repeat and conditioned into the brain. Visualize yourself hearing such an alarm, reacting to it in a calm manner and then doing what needs to be done to make sure you are SAFE. This kind of visioning was mentioned in a post about two months ago in relation to road rage here and has much merit. Also, don't beat yourself up about what happened or think you are weak. Us HSP's have tender nervous systems which is both a good and bad thing depending on the situation. Realize that you (and the rest of us too) are going to react harder to things in life than non-HSP's. Denmark Guy (an outstanding HSP blog writer) advised that we accept our stronger reactions because it is part of our makeup. We is what we is kiddo. Again don't be so hard on yourself. We'll see what others say and I'll bet they interject some good ideas too:) Take care!
I am not hard on myself, but I was kind of suprised by this event.
The fact such a simple and basic event can trouble me is scary.
At school, we were doing fire training all the time, and I never got this problem.
The alarm was not so strong.
I knew noises, songs or music have a huge impact on my feelings, but I would never have think it can be so awful.
I think as I experienced it once, it will be better next time.
I do not think I am weak but I think it is a weakness. We all have weaknesses. But this one is quite big to handle, I just hope it will be better in the future.