Eggshell Therapy helps highly sensitive, intense, gifted, neurodivergent adults to thrive, teaching people to appreciate their exceptional qualities and flourish in a world that is still learning to understand and appreciate them for who they really are. “Emotional Intensity” is a term used by Eggshell Therapy founder Imi Lo; this article will take a closer look at what emotional intensity is, providing practical pointers for emotionally intense people to harness their unique qualities to get the most out of life.
Commonly associated with empaths and highly sensitive and gifted individuals, emotional intensity means feeling a wide spectrum of emotions in a more profound and vivid way than most people. This can include both positive emotions, such as love, excitement, and happiness, and negative emotions, such as fear, sadness, and distress.
An emotionally intense individual is perceptive, imaginative, sensitive, and deeply empathic. However, this does leave them more vulnerable to experiencing mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Often described as an “old soul,” an intense personality is someone who thinks and feels more deeply than their peers, observing the world with more depth and complexity.
Intense personalities retain the passion and curiosity of a child, experiencing both positive and negative emotions more powerfully than the average person. This might lead them to wonder why they feel so much or whether they feel too much, as they feel on a very deep level, even experiencing positive and negative emotions at the same time. One moment they might be euphoric, then plunge into despair. Emotionally intense people truly understand the meaning of rapture and ecstasy, becoming easily absorbed in music and art, sometimes so much so that they may struggle to extrapolate themselves from these immersive experiences.
Although emotionally intense people love passionately, they do not always show it. This applies to all kinds of relationships, including romantic connections, as well as relationships with friends, family, pets, and wider humanity. This type of person tends to give their all in relationships, leaving them vulnerable to being deeply wounded by rejection or abandonment.
An emotionally intense person is someone with immense passion, even if this is kept hidden from the outside world. They form strong connections not only with people but also with animals and even with places. For them, separation can be incredibly painful, even traumatizing. Experiencing life with nostalgia and tenderness, when an intense personality thinks of someone dear to them, they feel that love as acutely as if they were in the room with them.
Emotionally intense people develop concern for the wider world early on in life, a common trait of gifted people. When someone is hurt or upset, their empathy is so strong that it is as if this harm is actually happening to them. They may even experience physical pain when witnessing abuse.
People with emotional intensity are often told they are too sensitive, too intense, too emotional, or just too much. With their brain processing information and reflecting on it more deeply, intense individuals feel with much more intensity. They can be incredibly caring, sensitive, and attentive. At their best, intense personalities can be extraordinarily perceptive and intuitive. However, they are also prone to becoming overwhelmed by social nuances and waves of psychic and emotional energy from others.
Emotionally intense people are change-leaders, truth-tellers and fierce lovers of the world. By their very nature, they are predisposed to serve as questioners, progressives, and pioneers. Their role in the world is to shine a light on the realities that their contemporaries do not yet see or understand. Embracing the gift of emotional intensity can be of huge value for both the individual and those around them, paving the way for intense personalities to stand out as sensitive leaders, providing a solid example for others like them.
