No art tonight. Though art can be therapeutic, I really needed some time off tonight.
I got yelled at and threatened while I was playing Pokémon Go downtown today. It's actually the second time this has happened to me in less than two weeks. My PoGO raid group told me yesterday that a weird man was following the group around, making the kids cry in fear.
I found out that I may be what psychologists call a "Highly Sensitive Person," which means my nervous system is ultra sensitive to emotional stimuli. I can overreact to unpleasant situations, leading people to call me things like "thin-skinned" and "diaper baby."
HSPs have very positive traits that go overlooked. We are sometimes called "empaths," as we are highly attuned to the emotions of others around us and often feel their emotions as if they were our own. For that reason, we make awesome listeners. HSPs experience the whole spectrum of emotions more deeply, which means we have a great capacity to be very passionate about the things and people we love. Our attention to detail makes us great at creativity; we are good artists, innovators, inventors, entrepreneurs.
Coming back to empathy, these street experiences really opens my eyes to those who are approached and receive unwanted, creepy, or insulting interactions regularly. It can be difficult to cope with sometimes. But always know so many others face this and you are never alone.
And if you're the type of person that sometimes overreacts to these situations, don't put yourself down; know that you are a super passionate, creative badass with empathetic superpowers! You've got this.
Catch-up drawings coming tomorrow.
J