My boy from such a young age has had this innate capacity to feel, really feel.
One that we all have deep within us, only his comes with questions, ones that linger far beyond the moments. Tears that come purely from how others are feeling.
His highly sensitive nature has been a beautiful blessing, but has caused me plenty of challenging questions also. Ones where I have had to look deep within myself and ask why I’m challenged by his reactions, probably because I have always felt so deeply too.
In the past I remember conversations with others, they would laugh over a situation that had happened to someone else, meanwhile I’ve already transported myself into that persons shoes, crushed by the weight of something I don’t necessarily have a connection to, but I’m carrying the feelings as if they’re my own.
I’ve been told to lighten up in the past, that’s a hard thing to hear when you have an incredible light within you but it gets dulled by statements like that.
I know who Harry is and I know why it triggers me sometimes, because he is me. His nature is so close to mine. I spent a long time suppressing it, thinking that maybe I was too much, I felt TOO MUCH.
Harry will hear a piece of music arranged in a particular order of notes that are somber and he will cry.
He will watch a cartoon where a dog might fall over and he will cry and ask if the doggy was OK, again before he goes to bed at night.
He can pick up on the vibe in a room in seconds and recognises big feelings in others.
Loud noises will rock him to his core while my daughter doesn’t bat an eyelid. I can feel myself squinting. Is it because of his reaction, or because I feel it too?
My goal that I must succeed in with him is to never make him feel uncomfortable for these feelings like I did.
The world needs more of our highly sensitive children, ones who lead with their heart, unapologetically.
They are critical to this world, not a burden.
And through him I’m realising I didn’t need all the answers, just acceptance.
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“They are not broken, they are just responding appropriately to a broken world” - Glennon Doyle