It's normal to be really really sensitive

As a child I often felt a bit weird because I was the kind of child who cried very easily over anything. In fact it was a thing in our house that other family members found to be quite amusing because it was unusual for a day to go by where something would not reduce me to tears and on those days I was teased about it so much that I would get upset about being teased and thus continue my streak of being a cry baby. Even now as an adult (or at least as someone doing a convincing impression of being an adult) I have a terrible propensity to take things personally and I have been known when given much criticism ( and not the particularly constructive kind) to find myself on the verge of tears and very easily tipped over into full on crying when someone says 'you're not going to cry, are you ?'. I always assumed that this and my other idiosyncrasies were just quirks of my personality or a by product of my upbringing.

 Then the other night I stumbled upon an article on Highly sensitive people and realised they were more or less describing me to a tee. Someone who is described as being a highly sensitive person has the innate trait (meaning they are born with it ) of high sensory processing sensitivity. I am aware this sounds a bit like psycho-babble but stay with me and I will try be a little clearer. Essentially from I have read this means someone fitting the criteria for this is more sensitive to what is going on in their environment and it leads higher anxiety levels, feeling the emotions of others and feeling overwhelmed when there is a lot going on among other things. 

 Hello Giggles did a great bit on it http://hellogiggles.com/signs-youre-sensitive-person/ and I have helpfully included the link so you can tell if you're one too because its more common than you think. For me it was great because it has validated a lot that's weird about me like how I was absolutely bawling crying watching that episode of Nashville (it was a very emotional one !) and how I need to withdraw to somewhere quiet after a lot of time around people, my hatred of crowds, my people pleasing tendencies and indecisiveness. I would say about 18 of the traits apply directly to me. 

 Now you might still think I'm a little odd and that's fine but I will remain incredibly excited because I have found something that explains so much of me. 

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