Is being a highly sensitive person (HSP) a curse or a gift?

Pearl S. Buck, (1892-1973), recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938, said the following about Highly Sensitive People:

"The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this:

A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.

To him... a touch is a blow,
a sound is a noise,
a misfortune is a tragedy,
a joy is an ecstasy,
a friend is a lover,
a lover is a god,
and failure is death.

Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create - - - so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating." -Pearl S. Buck

According to author Elaine Aron, "About 15 to 20 percent of the population have this trait. It means you are aware of subtleties in your surroundings, a great advantage in many situations. It also means you are more easily overwhelmed when you have been out in a highly stimulating environment for too long, bombarded by sights and sounds until you are exhausted." An HSP herself, Aron reassures other Highly Sensitives that they are quite normal. Their trait is not a flaw or a syndrome, nor is it a reason to brag. It is an asset they can learn to use and protect.

In my case, I experienced high sensitivity as both.

"There was a time that I cursed the curse that lay upon my veins.

Wild spirit chained
Flaming fire quenched over and over
’til it can consume no more
’til it can arise no more
with passions that blaze within my soul…

I’ve cursed my curse
and then I realized -

I’ve also cursed my gift."

There is a high price to pay for being an HSP, but there is a great joy in it as well, for in being able to harness one's gift, one is able to understand many things, one is able to penetrate even the deepest parts of another person's heart. In transcending the barriers that usually imprison a suffering soul, one is able to soothe another's pain, one is able to heal.

It has a high cost indeed, for before one can heal, one must be wounded first; before one can understand, one must accept to be misunderstood.

For more information on HSPs, see the following links:
http://hsperson.com/
http://hsperson.com/pages/test.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_sensitive_person