HSP Life: When Practicality must Override Idealism

We HSPs tend to be a rather idealistic bunch.

Sometimes, the pursuit of our idealistic flights of fancy seems to be the only thing that keeps us alive and going in a world that often seems harsh and not very idealistic. As such, it can be easy to neglect-- or even forget about-- the practical matters of daily life.

For example, for the past couple of weeks, I have really been wanting to spend more time writing and getting into several other projects I have had in the works... but the practical world has dictated that I put most of my effort into doing my taxes (Here in the US, our annual personal taxes must be filed by April 15th), and not doing those other things.

Sometimes we have to focus on things we don't want to do, merely to stay functional in the world.

Maybe that sounds "Duh! Obvious!" to most people, but I know from experience that I-- and many of my HSP peers-- easily fall into playing "the avoidance game" when it comes to dealing with things in "real life" that we don't really like. And-- quite often-- to our detriment.

The tendency to "avoid dealing with reality" can become a serious issue when we look at the longer term, especially in the context of trying to realize dreams we may have. For example, we may have a deep desire to create some kind of charitable or beneficial project but avoid ever "getting into it" because we don't want to deal with the up-front hassles of applying for licenses and permits and dealing with an assortment of boring things that are pretty much required, before we can get to do something we really want.

Some years back, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Dr. Barrie Jaeger, author of "Making Work Work for the Highly Sensitive Person," and one of the things I learned from our conversations was that even the most joyful and perfect "Calling" in life will have its moments of dull boring drudgery... so if we sit around and always wait for the "ideal" situation in which everything is "perfect," we may well end up missing out completely on the things we really want to do.

Sometimes, dealing with "Practicalities" can be hard. Unlike my taxes-- which required about two weeks of my attention-- we may find ourselves in a situation where all our attention and energy, every single day, has to go into the simple act of doing what it takes to "keep the lights turned on." I have definitely been there, burned out and wondering if the dreams I wanted to pursue would ever become possible.

Patience becomes essential. Sometimes we have to be prepared to spend significant amounts of time "in the grind," in order to get to where we want to go. 

But don't give up! 

Figure out what small things you can do to take you towards where you want to go and then focus on those which still keeping up with the practical demands of life.

This may all have sounded rather bleak, but I assure you I did not intend it to. The point was merely to underline that ignoring the practical while in pursuit of our idealistic dreams can actually set us back, rather than take us forward.

In the end, it's all about balance!