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Gryph and I ordered The Highly Sensitive Person and Making Work Work for the Highly Sensitive Person (two different authors). I found them at Borders online--received an unexpected gift certificate at just the right time--and they just arrived.

These self tests are beginning to scare me; I just scored 30 out of 31 on the one in the beginning of Making Work Work... then I noticed it's one of those where you rate each question either zero, 5 or 10 points. Going that way, I scored 300 out of 310. The only question I didn't answer "high" for was the one about other people calling me "intense" but hey... if by every other measure I'm so high on the scale, why aren't people calling me intense? *wry look*

So I'm thinking that a HSP could be someone with Aspergers as well, but if the two coincide, it must make things so very difficult!

Ursy and Belle talked about the effort of fitting in, of not making the people around them uncomfortable. This is something that I struggle with also. Sometimes I wonder just how I made it this far; but then the next logical question, "and what would happen if I stopped trying so hard anyway?" reminds me that I learned the hard way that I have to fit in or people get pretty angry with me, and then they go away. Ooops. Not what I want at all.... but yes, sometimes I do wonder why all the effort has to be mine, and why other people can't make allowances for me sometimes.

One of the things I adore about Gryph is that he has never ever once chastised me for being "too sensitive" nor ever once said those hated words, "grow a thicker skin." Too much information comes in, yes, and it does sometimes cause emotional overloads or a need to hide from everyone and everything--but he cherishes me for the sensitivity anyway. We each try to give the other the space we need to cope with the world.

Anyhow, thank you Ami for telling us about the book. I think it'll help a lot, and I'm glad to understand why we all have so much in common.