Turn your biggest “weakness” in to your superpower.
For as long as I can remember I have been told that I am too sensitive.
“You take everything so personally.”
“You’re too sensitive.”
“Get a grip.”
“Man up.”
“Stop worrying about everyone else and focus on yourself.”
In my early 20’s gained a nickname with the group I hung out with — “gazelle”. They would refer to me as gazelle or Bambi in conversations in their “code”. They saw we as weak and fearful, like a baby deer caught in the headlights. A lost Bambi searching for a home.
It become my story.
“I’m too sensitive”
“I’m too fragile”
“I’m weak”
It followed me through school, jobs, relationships.It stopped me from takings risks or making changes. It kept me stuck.
I was always looking for external validation and never stepped in to my power.
Over time I found my way to jobs where we were encouraged to use our unique skills. Despite being quiet, I was always kind and a team player. As a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) I feel deeply connected to others, I care about others and am highly empathetic.
Over time, I started to look closely at these beliefs that others had about me, that had become my own. I thought about those qualities and realised that I deeply value those qualities in others, why not myself?
My sensitivity is a gift, not a weakness.
It meant that…
- As a web developer I was able to prioritise accessibility and caring about how the person at the other end of the code would interact with it.
- I build good working relationships with my teams as I deeply care about them and valued their individual skills. I can see potential and natural skills and how we all fit together in a team.
- As a User Experience researcher I was able to put myself in the users shoes, understand their pain points, really understand why they were important and work to fix them.
- As a yoga teacher I am able to judge a room and will often structure my class on the fly, depending on the energy of the room. I notice when a student is struggling with a pose or injury and can gently remind of adaptations. I deeply care about my students and the experience they have in my classes.
- As a friend I am able to listen and hold space without judgement. I can understand even when I have not been through the same.
Today I embrace my sensitivity as my superpower.
Do I still get told I’m too sensitive? Absolutely. But these days I just smile, send them love and think to myself it’s a shame that they don’t see it.
Sensitivity is my superpower. What’s yours?
If you would like help turning your “weakness” in to your superpower, book in for a free consultation or message me, to see if I can help.
