Outliers are often (not always, but often) filled with overexcitabilities. These are five areas of our lives that were recognized by Dabrowski as more sensitive to stimuli (Overexcitability Article Here). They are: psychomotor, emotional, intellectual, sensual, and imaginational.
Those with overexcitabilities either crave or resist stimulation in a particular area. For example, one Outlier's sensual OE's might make them crave hot, spicy foods, while another's sensual OE's makes them only tolerate the blandest fare.
With the entire nervous system on fire with OE's, it can be difficult to control the force of them. When every touch is a blow, every birdsong a symphony, every question a deep mystery, every emotion a tidal wave, and every moment being still is like trying to hold the ocean back with a broom, it is often difficult to know how and when to act on an OE and when not to.
Here is the thing: while OE's are natural to us, they also need to be controlled, just like any other impulse, in order to be useful and not destructive. A fire hose, turned onto a fire, is excellent. A fire hose aimed at a child is dangerous.
The thing about our Outlier minds is that we have the ability to control them. Yes, the OE's are powerful, but so are our brains. Our society doesn't teach controlling our minds and emotions, but that is a vital skill for us to develop for personal and professional reasons so that we may achieve the best we can, and for our peace and sanity.
Have you managed any OE's? Find any that are easier than others? Any good coping skills you can pass on? Let us know.
I totally agree - both about OEs and the need to control them. I suppose the trick is finding a way that genuinely controls them, rather than repressing them in an unhealthy way. So many outliers have repressed emotions, in one form or another. As a child, I always felt larger than life and so I spent decades trying not to be heard or seen to try to compensate for those firehose moments. I am thankful I have a circle of close friends now who actually enjoy the firehose aspects of myself (on the increasingly more frequent times I allow it). I still often feel I am trying to adjust the stream. And that is all on a verbal and emotional level. Not brave enough for the physical or creative levels yet. At least with the creative, I can paint and write, and there is an automatic limiter for others.
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