I told my husband I was going to the gym I’d just joined online but had not yet visited. I said “I’m not sure when I’ll get home because I don’t expect to do a workout. I just want to look around and see what it’s like.”
He looked up at me from his laptop and said “well, why would you go to the gym if you don’t think you’re going to workout?
I replied” Because I like to get used to the atmosphere and take my time getting to know a place.”
He looked up again with a perplexed look on his face and said “that doesn’t make sense.”
I said “well it does to me. ” My husband is an avid athletic, an HSP and a kind soul. But it wasn’t the time to explain to him my approach as he was distracted.
When I arrived to the gym there was a young man employee who told me the ins and outs of Gym protocol as he showed me around the gym in an automated fashion. He knew the script, he was friendly, but there was no resonance, no human connection. In the past, I would have felt some angst because of this shallow interaction but these days I let it go.
Later, checking out the machines near the front desk, an older woman approached looking distressed. She asked him to see the lost and found. I asked her what she had lost and she said it was a silver necklace given to her by her father before he died. Smiling at her in sympathy, I said ” I hope you find it. It sounds important.” she said “yes” as tears welled up in her eyes.
I’m grateful to have come to know myself well enough: my own rhythms, my own sensitivity to situations, to enable me to take my time in a new environment. I am a highly sensitive person and, as such, I need to take time to orient and adapt. And as a highly sensitive person I’m deeply empathic. I am grateful I’m no longer embarrassed to share that empathy. Empathy is our saving grace with one another: a gift to one another.
As I was preparing to leave the Gym, I passed by the older woman. I saw in in her hand the delicate silver necklace. I smiled widely to her. She looked at me and said” I’m so glad that you spoke to me. I was about to cry. thank you.”
I answered “cry away, you had good reason to be upset” and we nodded in unison as we parted.
