An Impossible Situation: A Sensitive Person Takes Everything Personally

Proverbs 26:18-19 - Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death is one who deceives their neighbor and says, "I was only joking!"

Are you an overly sensitive person? Do you take everything personally that’s said to you? It can be difficult to ignore the insults of others and stand your ground. But stand you must if it’s only to stand on the inside. You know the truth and most of the time you succeed in letting go what someone says to you, but sometimes it seems like an impossible situation.
 
Here they come walking down the hallway at your workplace. They point and laugh at the person who just dropped a stack of files onto the ground.
 
Instead of offering to help pick them up, the insensitive person just says, “Oops! There’s the clumsy one who can’t seem to complete even the simple task of carrying files from one location to the next. You’re always dropping things!”
 
As the sensitive person begins picking up the files another person stops to help them and says, “Hey! That’s not professional or kind.”
 
“Ah, come on,” answers back the insensitive person. “I was just joking.”
 
But were they really joking? Within any cruel joke there is some truth and it means that the person who said it really meant it.
 
Huffingtonpost.com posts their article, “16 Habits of Highly Sensitive People,” lists some of the common characteristics of a sensitive person such as feeling things more deeply, are used to hearing, “Don’t take things so personally” and “Why are you so sensitive?”, have difficulty making decisions, are more upset if they make a “bad” or “wrong” decision and are more prone to anxiety or depression.
 
Eduadvisor.my posts their article, “Are You Too Sensitive? 8 Ways to Deal with Emotional Sensitivity,” provides some ways on how to deal with being emotionally sensitive and lets us know that being sensitive doesn’t have to be a bad thing because it shows that you’re compassionate and empathetic towards others. A few things you can do to deal with sensitivity including not being too hard on yourself, limiting overthinking and realizing it’s not all about you.
 
Remember the Bible verse above that being hurt by someone who says, "I was only joking!" can be difficult to hear, but if you choose to ignore their comments and remember what God thinks about you, you’ll be better able to move beyond cruel words and feel better about your life as a whole.
 
Want to find out if you’re an overly sensitive person? Take this test.
http://hsperson.com/test/highly-sensitive-test/
 
Key words: impossible situation, joking hurts, overly sensitive, cruel words, move beyond hurtful comments

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