Watching “Game of Thrones” as a Sensitive Person.

I’ve been reading the book Sensitive is the New Strong, which is our latest book club selection for The Highly Sensitive Creative book club. And a bunch of things have been jumping out at me. 

There are so many relatable things in it, so many things I’ve either thought or felt myself. AND at the same time, I’ve also had my own slightly-different reactions to some of the things the author talks about. 

One of the things the author mentions is not being able to watch Game of Thrones. All those years ago, when Game of Thrones was popular, I watched some episodes myself and started having nightmares.  

So, for a while, I just gave up on the show. I felt like I couldn’t handle it.  

But then, after months, I came back to it and watched it with my husband. On the one hand, I still found parts of it really hard to watch (like the disturbing violence). But on another level, it was EXACTLY the kind of show that I am deeply intrigued by. 

For some reason, I am fascinated by the dark stuff.

I am deeply interested in the shadow – in the way we human beings are driven by things that we would rather not own – like anger or fear or a lust for power – even as we profess to strive towards the light.    

I think there is a deep psychological reality to Game of Thrones that accounted for my fascination. 

Its outer story can also be seen as an inner tale about the different parts struggling inside one single person.    

On some level, we all have bits and pieces of ALL the characters in that show. 

We are the heroes and heroines, the villains and the monsters. 

Some part of us is Arya or Tyrion, and some other part is Cersei or Ramsay. 

We are the Night Watch guarding the wall,  the protectors of the realm. 

AND we are also the White Walkers. 

And because I have always felt like this, this sense of all my different parts, I often feel two conflicting things. 

I feel like I am BOTH very sensitive to everything horrendous (and so, must avoid it) and also that I am very deeply fascinated by the underbelly of things.  

To me, being a highly sensitive person feels like this constant push & pull between wanting to steer clear of what disturbs me & being pulled towards trying to understand it.   

When should you pull back from the ugliness of this world, so you can protect your sanity? And when should you move towards the world, and try to understand?  

And what’s the right thing to do when? 

I think it’s when we get together as sensitive people that we start finding our own answers to these questions. 

On the one hand, we can see just how common & familiar to other sensitive people our experiences are – all those things we may have judged ourselves for, such as thinking of ourselves as “weak” for not being able to watch certain shows or movies. 

At the same time, we also see the ways in which our experiences make us different from other sensitive people. 

So, we start feeling more belonging, and also start seeing what belongs to only us. 

Being around other sensitive folks helps us feel mirrored back AND also helps us start differentiating ourselves. 

This sense of just how important connectedness with like-minded people is has grown deeper & deeper for me. 

As I’ve met other sensitives on my own journey and through the book clubs I’ve facilitated, and also the people who have written to me after reading The Empath’s Journey – all these have given me sparks of insight. 

And those sparks help me see myself better.   

So, if you are feeling the kind of loneliness that sensitives can often feel – feeling lonely in a crowd – feeling lonely because the people around us don’t quite “get” us, I hope you will reach for spaces that can bring you this connection. 

Personally, I have found that following my interests – whether it is Carl Jung’s analytical psychology, or my interest in fairytales, and more recently, birdwatching – are more fertile grounds for bringing to me my-kind-of-people. 

So, if there’s something calling to you – a curiosity, an interest, a passion – I hope you follow it. 

Something in you knows what you need.

And that something is what you can trust to take you forward.

Ritu Kaushal is the author of the book The Empath’s Journey. Find more about Ritu HERE.

Interested in future online book clubs? The Highly Sensitive Creative newsletter is where you’ll find updates about the next one, when it happens. Sign up HERE.

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