4 Genuine Benefits of Gifted HSPs

In my psychology practice, I find working with gifted highly sensitive people (HSPs) incredibly rewarding. HSPs are ideal therapy clients: introspective, focused, eager to grow, and hard workers. It is particularly exciting to see my gifted hsps come to better understand who they are as whole people, not just as HSPs.

One of the ways this frequently happens is when clients explore what it means to be gifted adults. Some of my clients were identified as gifted as children, but many more of them were not formally assessed for giftedness. A number of clients have brought up a hunch that they might be gifted, while I am the one to introduce the possibility of giftedness to many other clients.

Why Giftedness is Trickier to Spot in Adults

Many children learn to disguise, minimize, and mask their exceptionality which in turn, means that adults are prone to masking giftedness as they did in their younger years. However, adult giftedness gets overlooked more often because of misconceptions about what it looks like. Among people who already know that they are highly sensitive, the overlap between these traits may make it particularly hard to recognize giftedness.

Let’s start with a definition. Giftedness in adults is characterized by advanced aptitude and achievement in one or more areas. Aptitude is one’s inherent potential to do something, while achievement is the observable result in the world. In addition to a person’s aptitude and achievement, they have an intense drive for mastery, to make sense of the world, and to translate their inner experiences so that they make an impact on the world around them. 

Giftedness is complicated and hard to recognize at times because so much of the trait is internal. Unless you ask someone or they show you, you might never know that they possess these qualities. In a similar way, if you have never contemplated this broad definition of giftedness, you might not have seen yourself through this lens.

We tend as a society to focus on certain kinds of giftedness, which starts with identifying children primarily based on academic subjects. The stereotype of the math/science “nerd” is one of the most common tropes of giftedness, yet there is no reason either in how giftedness is defined or in public education laws that students couldn’t be identified as gifted for their exceptional aptitude and achievement in the arts, physical activities, interpersonal skills, and other areas.

If you keep this expanded notion of what giftedness is in mind, you might easily recognize giftedness in:

• The community organizer who connects individuals around a shared purpose and guides them through conflicts to reach their goals;
• The musician who traded in a performance career to become renowned as an instructor whose students gain admission to top conservatories;
• The landscaper whose visuospatial skills enable them to translate customers’ dreams into lush backyard escapes;
• The manager whose “soft skills” have translated into a long list of employees who have found their own professional success, supported by the manager’s ability to create resources and paths where others saw none.

This is certainly not an exhaustive list of ways that gifted adults may be hiding in plain sight, but I hope it broadens your sense of what forms giftedness can take.

Not every HSP is gifted and vice versa, but there is considerable overlap between the two groups of people. The qualities of each identity can enhance and magnify each other, leading to some unique benefits to being a gifted HSP.

Here are four that I see regularly:

#1 – Gifted HSPs are Complex Integrators and Innovators

It’s not surprising that the deep processing which defines being highly sensitive is further enhanced by the cognitive complexity that comes with being gifted. When gifted HSPs have the space to let give these qualities free rein, they can craft intricate theories, flawless integrate diverse pieces of information, and come to innovative conclusions. Creativity, novel solutions, and new schematics for organizing ideas or tangible items are bound to arise.

To harness this cognitive power, gifted HSPs may want to look beyond their workplace to online communities, groups where you can engage in your talents with others, or special interest groups (such as a writing circle or a political action group).

Finding others who welcome your complexity and add “grist to the mill” of your mental processing will nurture your deep thinking and allow you to translate thought into action.

#2 – Gifted HSPs are Super-Sensors

Both HSPs and gifted adults exhibit heightened sensory receptiveness. This awareness of sensory subtleties helps us take in more information about the external world and process it with a more refined internal awareness. This sensory capacity makes gifted HSPs particularly attuned to patterns and trends around them. Gifted HSPs frequently develop a heightened aesthetic sensitivity, leading to deep appreciation of one or more areas of the arts, creativity, or the natural world.

Some gifted HSPs may find a professional outlet for their super sensory qualities. Others may want to look for opportunities to direct these abilities to their everyday lives, such as in cooking, how they decorate and maintain their home or yard, or in collecting items that reflect a particular area of interest. Many super sensers are drawn to community organizations that focus on things like the arts, bird watching, woodworking, or gaming.

#3 – Gifted HSPs are Deep Connectors

With an appreciation for going deep and a desire to get beyond small talk, gifted HSPs are deep connectors. They look for meaningful conversation, intellectual stimulation, and shared interests in the people they connect with.

This doesn’t mean that gifted HSPs can’t engage in casual conversation, but it does mean that they won’t be satisfied unless they are also connecting more intimately with at least a couple people in their lives. This desire for deep connection may also include profound connections with animals and the natural world.

Connectedness can be a poignant struggle for many gifted HSPs, particularly if one is introverted and finds casual social interaction energy consuming. It can be hard to have energy left over for deep conversations or communing with nature after a long day of working or parenting.

Thus, it is important for gifted HSPs to be taking care of their needs (including solitude, self-reflection, self-care and rest) and setting boundaries on how much emotional energy they give to the world. Only if we’re protecting ourselves in these ways will we have the capacity to engage in the meaningful connections we desire, and which prove to be so invigorating to gifted HSPs.

Looking for HSP Tools to Thrive in a Chaotic World?

The modern world is often overwhelming and stressful for those of us with sensitive nervous systems. Many of us have suffered from the challenges of high stress, anxiety, sensory overload, and mental health and physical health issues. Fortunately, after years of working with and researching Highly Sensitive People (HSPs), Julie Bjelland has developed many tools that have not only helped her but thousands of HSPs all over the world move out of survival mode living and into thriving. In this free webinar, she’ll share the tools that HSPs have found the most life-changing. Her goal is to help you live to your fullest potential because the world needs you.

Join this free webinar and get tools to help you thrive as an HSP!

join free webinar

#4 – Gifted HSPs are World-Makers

One of my favorite aspects of gifted HSPs is that they are world makers. No matter where they focus their attention, they make a positive impact. They have a natural tendency to care deeply about people, the environment, and social systems, and to translate that inner thought and emotion into a tangible difference.

That doesn’t mean that every gifted HSP becomes internationally known. Their impact may be hyperlocal—on a single animal, person, community, or workplace—but it is powerful and needed, nonetheless.

World making is part of how gifted HSPs work through their inevitable existential questions, need to improve things around them, and transform injustice for the better. I always encourage my gifted HSP clients to look for ways to take all that internal work they are doing—thinking, feeling, sensitive, imagining—and find ways to translate it into external action.

I truly believe there are few people better suited to making a positive impact on the world than a gifted HSP with a mission to make a change.

Your Gifts are Precious

Whether or not you identify as gifted, your gifts as a highly sensitive person are precious and vital to the world. I see my most important role in working with clients as supporting them in bringing all their gifts, talents, personality traits, and dreams to the forefront.

We grow as a society when people like you bring all of yourself to your community, your relationships, and your own life pursuits. I hope you’ll bring your whole self to the stage!

Be sensitive, be free

*This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links*