Being too sensitive is a superpower.
“Tish is sensitive, and that is her superpower. The opposite of sensitive is not brave. It’s not brave to refuse to pay attention, to refuse to notice, to refuse to feel and know and imagine. The opposite of sensitive is insensitive, and that’s no badge of honor.” ~ Glennon Doyle, Untamed
Think back. Can you recall the number of times you have ever been admonished with, “Come on! You are too sensitive!”
I’ve been told that thousands of times.
And each time I heard it, I took it as an indication that something was wrong with me. Broken. Not tough enough. Weak.
I felt I nearly glowed, pinkish-red with face-burning shame and self consciousness. I worried I wouldn’t be able to thrive in the world—the greater “out there”—given that I was a giant nerve ending with feet, doomed to always feel too much.
Now, if someone tries to lasso me with a “You are too sensitive!”, I reply with an honest and hearty, “Thank you!”
The Power in Being Too Sensitive
Here is what I now know:
Awareness and Sensitivity ride together, and they are precious commodities—co-conspirators for our Creativity. They fuel our Art/Business/Life immeasurably by igniting our ability to transform something we notice, turn it on the Lathe of Us (powered by our own unique vision and heart), and then gift it to others.
In turn, as we practice and engage in such Art, doing so fuels our Awareness and Sensitivity. It is a beautiful, cybernetic feedback loop of our connection with the world, ourselves, and what we elevate to the surface from within us to share.
It is not too far of a stretch to assert that embracing and leveraging your sensitivity is one of the finest acts of love there is. It is our secret sauce in delivering extraordinary moments that create connection and inspire change, movement, and progress.
Artist, Nicholas Wilton, shares in this video how the loving act of making an extraordinary cup of coffee with profound sensitivity to flavor, ingredients, and process is tantamount to Art.
Each time he mentions the word Artist, replace it with the word entrepreneur. Artists and entrepreneurs are engaged in the very same quest: delivering on the human race’s deep desire to experience the joy and thrill of truly being alive. Embracing and elevating our sensitivity is our bridge across the chasm from mundane to sacred.
Rebranding Sensitivity
How can we begin to recognize “too sensitive” for what it really is?
Let’s rebrand Sensitivity as heightened Awareness (a blend of Empathy, Observation, Perception, and Presence) and make it the foundation of every aspect of our enterprises. When we do so, we will make things for our ideal clients with love and will enjoy enduring market fit.
Our ideal clients, too, will never forget how we made them feel. Similarly, we will not forget how it makes us feel to deliver on our promise. Our experience of the world becomes immensely rich as the majority of our moments will be steeped in Magic.
Bring your Sensitivity to the Fire of Everything and watch it illuminate the faces of your clients as they sit in a circle around the flames. Let it warm weary souls, aching for connection and being seen. Let it warm your hands, too, and give you comfort in the darkness.
Let it remake the world out of that love.
