I’m an American, lived here my whole life, and I can’t help but feel like the world is falling apart. Ive genuinely been so depressed and hopeless lately and I don’t know where to turn. I don’t watch the news much because of how much bad things are broadcast every day, so typically I stay up to date on things through tik tok. (I know, not a reliable news source)

Anyway, I just deleted my tik tok because my entire fyp has just become nothing but doom and gloom. I want to stay up to date with the parasite outbreak, but don’t know where to turn.

There’s just so much shit going on in the world now. I swear I never hear anything other than war, disease and death. Every day it’s something different. Prices continue to rise, job market is terrible, AI taking over everything, outbreaks of disease, the rich elitists doing disgusting, inhumane things. It’s just too much and I feel like I’m losing my mind. This cannot be real life. Are we in hell? No. Unfortunately I know that it is real. But this life can certainly feel like hell sometimes.

I just don’t know what to do anymore.

When they tell me to “don’t be so sensitive” , it’s like they suddenly expect my body change on its own….

You’re so “weak shy timid”

I don’t like the ignorant world…

I fit the profile of an HSP very closely.

This is the first time I’ve asked people from other countries about this. I’ve always had the impression that people from places like the US or Brazil tend to be cheerful, so I was surprised to learn that there are so many people around the world struggling with being an HSP.

I was quiet and withdrawn from a young age. Parents and relatives would casually tell me, "Being quiet puts you at a disadvantage," and I grew up without even realizing how much those words had hurt me.

I’ve struggled to build successful relationships—whether in daily life, with partners, or with others—and have never really formed close bonds with anyone. My career hasn't gone well, either.

Although I am quiet and a pacifist, people with harsh personalities tend to gravitate toward me. I think that because I am too kind, people who are difficult to get along with—and who aren't easily accepted elsewhere—take advantage of my nature.

Sometimes, people who love to take care of others come into my life, too, but I’ve ended up distancing myself because they were too overbearing.

Now that I’m middle-aged, I’ve encountered the concept of HSP, as well as psychology, philosophy, and spirituality. By gradually looking inward and gaining various insights, I’ve learned to be grateful for life, and my suffering has eased. However, in practical terms, my situation isn't exactly ideal yet.

I managed to break free from traditional employment and succeed on my own for a few years, but right now, I’m in a "sowing seeds" phase—a period of preparation. I don't know yet if those seeds will actually take root and grow.

Did your family look at you like you were kind of strange, and not like them?. Like you should be tough and resilient, and because you weren't, you should change to be "better".

I posted this earlier, but it was agonizingly obvious that people could care less. No one upvoted or acknowledged or anything at all. I'm the most isolated that a person can be, and have no one to share something so precious with. Is anyone out there??

There are some types of music that have a magical effect, especially at night. You lay in bed, listen to them, then you think of the stars above, and you can feel time passing. It's been a while since I've had this musical awareness of time passing. I was listening to "secrets (slowed to perfection)" by julez, and I realized that I will probably never again see my childhood friends again - fate tore me from my beloved homeland - and that in about ten years, some of them will start passing away, and I will not know it. Childhood shared with them was so magical. I cannot believe that it will never return.

I wept. The music was a haunting reminder

Hi, I’m (M) not an HSP, but I’m in a situation with one (F, HSP) and need some advice. There is a lot of backstory about her healing journey and my role in it, but it would be too much to fit into one post. Also, this is a throwaway account because I don’t want this on my main.

I have feelings for her, and I’m pretty sure she does too. However, she just can't seem to communicate with me directly. I know she was hurt by an unfaithful manchild in the past and is being cautious. But I'm just as sure that she sees me as the one exception (I had to fight my own overthinking pretty hard to accept that, so please trust me on this). I think she's hesitating because she doubts herself. I've always been very patient and understanding, and that seemed to work well. She never pushed me away, and my attempts to reach out didn't seem to bother her at all. On the contrary, she was pretty obviously watching me from the digital orbit. She kept sending more and more indirect signals, and recently she hinted at longing for a real relationship again. At the same time, she seemed full of life again and liked posts starting with 'healed so hard that...'.

So, I gathered my courage and sent her a voice note to confess my feelings. I told her I want her just the way she is, even if her mind tries to tell her otherwise. I wanted to show her that I fully accept every side of her, even if she thinks she’s too much. It took her a week to process that, which I expected. When another indirect signal came, I sent her a Snap, which she opened right away. For the rest of that day and the next, her online focus was all about couples, kissing, weddings, and romance shows (she’s done this to a lesser extent after other messages from me in the past). The next two days were a bit gloomy, though. She focused on melancholic music and art, mostly about not being good enough or not wanting to lose someone. Now she's back to acting normal, like she recovered from these past days.

I had to leave out a lot of context, but that's the essence of the situation. I'd love to hear other opinions and maybe some advice on how to take away her fear of direct contact (I've already tried a lot and I’m kinda lost now). Thx!

Hello everyone,

My name is Rami, and I'm a highly sensitive person living in the Middle-East. I'm posting here to ask for your help, because I've been suffering for so many years and I don't know what else to do.

I'm 36 years old, and I've been forced to live in home isolation since 2014 because I'm highly sensitive to noise and negative energy and I live in an environment with so much noise pollution and endless discord on a daily basis. This is the reality of life in this low-vibrational part of the world.

I've lost 12 years of my life so far being trapped inside my apartment in an attempt to reduce my level of exposure to the horrible noises outside. I've been living in endless suffering on a daily basis because the terrible noises never stop. And I'm unable to work and have an income under these highly-distressing circumstances, so I've been trapped in this situation without the needed financial resources to relocate to a better environment in a better country in the West.

I've asked my family and relatives for help, but no one who is able to help has been willing to help me. Furthermore, I was subjected to psychological abuse and torture by the authorities because I criticized the authoritarian form of government of the country in which I live. And I've contacted so many individuals and organizations in the West and asked them for help over the past 6 years, but no one has been willing to help.

I've already lost 12 years of my life while being forced to live like a prisoner in my apartment, and I've been getting tormented on a daily basis all these years. I just want to have a normal life again and to be able to have peace and quiet inside my own home. I just want to be able to go outside and spend time in nature and live a normal and happy life. I just want to be able to work and have an income so I can afford to meet all of my needs.

I was abused by my own family for many years, starting when I was a child. I'm so tired of living like this. This world is so selfish and uncaring, and no one has been willing to help me. I just need to move to a better place so I can begin to heal my trauma and rebuild my life.

My hope is to raise enough money so I can seek asylum in Europe or relocate in any other way that's possible for me. And I'm posting here to ask the following question: Would you be willing to help me?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

25M. Canada. I feel burnt out. I worked a job in march and quit during training from burn out. I haven't applied to a new job since. I read a couple job descriptions and I get burnt out just from reading it. People are like you should apply to X Y and Z but they don't know me I feel like. I'm not lazy. I'm not a bum. I do try. It makes me wonder if I'm not trying enough. But when I try further that's when it backfires and I burn out. When I worked at the homeless shelter I actually cried in the bathroom from emotional burn out and I think my coworker could tell. I worked as a cook at a restaurant and I quit after my first shift was over which was only 6 hours.

When I go online it seems like degrees don't matter as much because apparently people are getting PhDs and masters degrees and they still can't land a job at mcdonalds. There's harvard graduates struggling to get a job. Makes me realize how much more difficult it is to get a job without a degree. I tried a major in psychology as nothing else interests me as much and I quit second year in because I wasn't happy with my decision.

While inflation is insane, nobody can afford to buy a house, cars are ridiculously expensive, and everything is so insane nowadays, I wish I had a solution. I wish I could be Obama and tell it how it is. I wish I could run as president and be the hero people need. To save the world. I wish superman would come on over and save the day. Save humanity.

I thought as society and humanity advances that it would improve logically speaking. It seems to be getting worse. I actually say this as my last post in a while that I am done with complaining online.

Because everywhere I go like youtube it's all doom. When I go on the news it's all doom. When I check gas prices it's all doom. People are like you sound depressed you should get some help, get some meds, go to a shrink and tell them your problems.

Buddy, ain't no pill gonna make this depression go away. Ain't no pill gonna alter how I feel about this sick world. I work my ass off in ways nobody sees! All they award in society is extroversion, speed, small talk, status, money, and ranks. I defy everything. People reject me for being real they can't handle it. They would rather prefer someone feeding them sweet lies everyday. Soothing their ego. Nobody wants the brutal truth.

Life is brutal. Life is hard. Life is suffering. Life is unfair. Life is unjust. Life is great to me because I at least know within myself that my sensitivity is my greatest strength. We're turning our weaknesses into strengths. That's how we mother fucking build and grow in this life you see? That's how we mother fucking thrive in this joint we call life! Period.

Hi friends,

For a business project, I'd like to ask you a few questions, and I'd really appreciate your help with my research.

I think I might be an HSP myself, and I've often felt lonely because people around me don't seem to fully understand me or my needs and it just doesn't click. I naturally notice a lot of things, that most of the people don't pay attention to, and mostly, I really enjoy engaging with people. So I've been thinking about a platform that helps HSPs connect and build these special relationships based on their needs.

That said, I find it hard to pin down what exactly makes a connection work online. Still, I see potential value in it, since the chances of meeting other HSPs, or people you could build a genuinely good relationship with, are higher if the search area is bigger, and here the web can support.

So here are my questions, as part of my market research:

1. Would you use a platform that focuses specifically on connection between HSPs? (yes/no)
2. What frustrates or overwhelms you about existing platforms (dating apps, social media, forums) when trying to connect with people? What would need to be different?
3. If no (to Q1), what holds you back?
4. What would need to be true, online, for you to feel safe enough to be fully open and yourself?
5. Think of a time you felt truly understood by someone, online or offline. What made that click, and what usually stops it from clicking?
6. Anything else you'd like to add?

Thanks so much for taking the time!

School has always been a nightmare for me. Being around people for so long and always expected to be doing something was too much and I hated it. I cried multiple times a day from the first day to the last. I'm in university now and although it's not stress free, it's great that I can do everything alone in my room and my nervous system can get a bit of a break.

I'm graduating in 2 years and I know I should be getting my first job soon, but I keep putting it off because I'm afraid it'll be a nightmare. It's going to be the same thing as school. Constant interactions and expectations with no time to breathe or recover. I'm afraid that no matter what kind of job I'll get it will eventually overwhelm me to the point where I will kill myself.

I know this isn't just an HSP thing, I also have anxiety and depression (formally diagnosed), but I think being HSP is the root of all my mental health issues and I hope someone here can give me some advice. I'm starting therapy in a month or so but I'm not sure if that's enough. I don't know what to do, how do I protect myself from the outside world without isolating myself completely?

There are some types of music that have a magical effect, especially at night. You lay in bed, listen to them, then you think of the stars above, and you can feel time passing. It's been a while since I've had this musical awareness of time passing. I was listening to "secrets (slowed to perfection)" by julez, and I realized that I will probably never again see my childhood friends again - fate tore me from my beloved homeland - and that in about ten years, some of them will start passing away, and I will not know it. Childhood shared with them was so magical. I cannot believe that it will never return.

I wept. The music was a haunting reminder

Tense situation- cry
Unexpected tense situation- the whole week is ruined
Boyfriend makes a mean joke- how do I tell him that I want to be alone for the next 48 hours now
Person percieved as authority is being direct- cry
A man is giving constructive critisism- cry because men are a little scary
Mean customer service worker- why does this person hate me specifically, I feel hurt (I know they’re probably tired)

EXHAUSTING. It has been like this since preschool.

I run my hands through the sand. This soft, gentle, fine sand that feels warm to the touch. This sand that came from hard, unyielding, firm rocks and slowly grinded over months, years. This same sand that we then heat up and turn into glass. That we blow into, shape, cut, rub into windows, lenses, glasses, into tinted pieces that we then turn into art. Our world makes no sense without it, a window into the beautiful, a gazing into the real using the rocks that inhabit our world. We live inside of it and it lives inside of us.

I lean back on my chair on the sweet delicious night and my arm outstretches across the sky attempting to grasp the beautiful little white dots that spread out across it. Giant balls of fire, gods we called them, we gave them human faces, we gave animal faces, we described their rotation as it caressed our surface with its gentle rays as a fight, an endless struggle between good and evil, as a stance between the death of night and the birth of life. It is so massive, our blue marble fights with all its strength to survive one more day, one more moment in its presence, in its warmth, in its light. If not, only darkness and silence remains. As it holds and caress with one hand, it also aims to destroy, to purge, to exterminate relentlessly, involuntarily, anything that stands in its way and isnt ready for it. It blasts eruptions into space scorching surfaces, blasting planets without their consent, vaporizing oceans, eating atmospheres, blasting radiation without warning poisoning everything in sight. And we fight back, as the blasts echoes across our surface we watch the resulting green strips of light across the sky and gaze at the beauty.

I look into my telescope, I stare into the emptiness, cold of space. This is where we originate... perhaps an icy rock from the kuiper belt, perhaps a piece of mars that collided with us. It matters not. Every single one of us. Every microbe, every insect, every jellyfish, every human originated from... out there... out from the cruel void of space. And we found home perhaps by chance, perhaps by circumstances, we evolved... slowly... survived the world catastrophes, to be here today. What a beautiful thought to be here, now, every one of us a testament to our resilience, to our refusal to let it end.

I lay my body across the grass and I feel her... i feel her heart beating beneath my feet, in the warmth of the soil, the gentle grazing of the grass she allowed to grow, to thrive for us, for all of us. As i walk bare foot in the soil, in the roots of the tr⁰ees, i feel her voice reach into my heart and guide me step by step, piece by piece. She is our mother and we are her children. We ve hurt her, cut her, made holes in her, took her for granted, and she continues shielding us, keeping us safe where everything wants us dead.

I want to say thank you mother for giving us such a chance to be alive now... maybe not forever, maybe just for a little while. For us to see, feel, taste, smell this beautiful little alcove that we needed. A beautiful world... just for me, just for you, just for all of us.

I’m 18F ever since I could remember my RBF has always made people misunderstand me at first it started when I was like 11 years old and people would give me weird looks or act weird towards me I thought maybe I was too ugly but prior to that that kind of thing never happened.

Until people started asking me why I look angry all the time and it made me sad cause i genuinely wasn’t even when I tried to smile or soften my expression it barely made any difference and I’ve recently adopted a mindset that most people are too shallow to see beyond the surface but I can’t stop thinking about all the opportunities or experiences I could have had if I didn’t come off as stuck up or angry all the time.

I would like to hear anybody else’s experience with this if you can relate

I’d love someone to chat with during the day. Just a few messages here and there to get to know one another and vent about our existences. I’m a 33F in Europe, the Netherlands. If anyone is interested, let me know!

Edit: thanks for all your comments and PM’s. I can’t reply to you all unfortunatly. It would cost me my job as I would have no time left. Ofcourse feel free to contact one another and happy chatting!

Hey y’all! As a newly identified HSP, I wanted to see if anyone else had this type of experience before. I’ve always been very sensitive to textures, scents, and noises; recently, I had a huge panic attack and couldn’t think straight after getting nail glue on my fingers because the feeling just freaked me out so much. I know that physical sensitivity is a part of HSP, but I wasn’t sure if this was something normal ish given that it seems like a lot of what people talk about is more sensory overload in loud/chaotic environments (which to be fair, I also understand lol). Lmk what y’all think!

A Lighter Way

I cannot carry
every heart.

The weight
would stop us both.

But perhaps
I can leave
a small lantern

beside the road.

A thought.

A poem.

A gentler way
to see.

Then each traveler

may set down
one unnecessary stone,

and continue

a little lighter

than before.

Why does it feel like no one else out there gets it? I wish I could clone myself and be my own best friend and happy forever!