Why Highly Sensitive People Struggle In Relationships
Being in love is different when you’re easily overwhelmed.
It had been nearly a year since she and I broke up. As much as I wanted a 30-day no-contact approach since the breakup, it was impossible because we kept running into each other at work and on campus.
Every week I’d get a text from her: “Are you on campus?”, or “I know I shouldn’t do it, but I can't help it. Can I see you?” Me, being the sensitive person that I am, not feeling okay with saying no to someone I still had feelings for and cared about, would always end up seeing her.
We’d get intimate with each other, feel highs that we didn't feel when we were actually together, then talk about how we shouldn’t see each other. This happened each time. It was toxic. And it brought out my anxiety. It also low-key had me going through a depression.
But I could never tell her because she never understood my deeper side. She knew I was softer than the other guys she had been with, and appreciated that part of me. But she wasn't the deep, philosophical type. She wouldn't have known what it felt like to be so overwhelmed all the time. She definitely wasn't a highly sensitive person (HSP).
