Many of us live with a particular kind of push pull.
One part of you wants more life, more colour, more newness, new people, new places, new ideas, new experiences. And another part of you needs quiet, space, simplicity. Time alone to come back to yourself.
If you’re a HSP, this can be especially confusing because your sensitivity can feel like distractibility. And bear in mind that ADHD can include sensory sensitivity too.
Sometimes what you are seeing is an HSP who is also High Sensation Seeking, and sometimes it might be ADHD. And it could be both.
This is written simply a way to help you notice your patterns with gentleness, so you can choose support that actually fits you. It’s not a diagnosis.
Two different engines that can look similar from the outside
High Sensation Seeking plus HSP
This is often a real appetite for experience and novelty. You love variety and are drawn to what feels alive and expansive. Too much sameness can feel like your spirit is dimming.
And because you’re sensitive, you also need more recovery time than most. Your system takes everything in deeply. The beauty and also the noise, the emotional currents, the social intensity.
A very common rhythm is:
I go toward the world. I drink it in. Then I need to retreat and replenish.
ADHD
ADHD is more about regulation. Regulation of attention, impulse, and executive function.
Stimulation can feel less like a preference and more like the brain trying to stay engaged, stay awake, or escape the discomfort of low reward tasks. Novelty can become a kind of self-medication.
Some people with ADHD are also sensory sensitive, so the overlap is real, and it matters.
Questions I find most helpful to ask
- When you seek stimulation, is it chosen, or does it take you over
When you move toward stimulation, does it feel like a deliberate choice, or does it feel like something you do even when you wish you would not.
Often HSS HSP:
I choose it. I can pace it. I can stop when I decide to.
Often ADHD:
I intend to stop, and I do not. I switch, scroll, interrupt, impulse buy, chase the next thing.
- What is the main difficulty, overwhelm or follow through
When life gets hard, what is the problem that is most persistent.
Often HSS HSP:
Overstimulation. Emotional flooding. Sensory overload. Needing quiet and recovery.
Often ADHD:
Starting things. Finishing things. Remembering. Planning. Time sense. Consistency. Even when I am rested.
Elaine Aron has a useful note on this in her HSP FAQ, especially the difference between struggling to concentrate because you are overloaded versus attention regulation difficulties that persist across contexts.
- Does rest bring you back
If you protect your recovery for a week, do you come back into yourself.
Often HSS HSP:
Yes. Recovery makes a tangible difference.
Often ADHD:
Rest helps, but the difficulties with organisation, initiation, and time blindness can still remain.
- Was it there early
Were these patterns clearly present in childhood.
Often ADHD:
Yes, across years and across settings.
Often HSS HSP:
It can become more obvious later, as life becomes busier and louder, but the sensitivity itself is innate.
- What does boredom do to you
Is boredom a gentle restlessness, or does it feel almost unbearable.
Often HSS HSP:
It is restlessness and longing, but you can still choose nourishing quiet.
Often ADHD:
It can feel like your whole system is clawing for stimulation, and low reward tasks can feel impossible to stay with.
A word about both
Some people are both sensitive and also ADHD.
It is simply how some nervous systems are built.
Research suggests sensory processing sensitivity can be associated with ADHD traits, which is one reason the lines can blur.
A simple two week experiment
If you are not sure, try this.
Not as a test you pass or fail, but as a way of listening to your system.
Week one, support the HSP plus HSS pattern
Treat recovery as non-negotiable.
Quiet mornings. Fewer social commitments. Nature. Sensory breaks. Earlier nights. Less caffeine.
Notice what changes.
If a lot of your struggle settles when you protect recovery, HSP plus HSS may be the main story.
Week two, support ADHD
Externalise executive function.
Use timers. Body doubling. Tiny starting steps. Reminders everywhere. Put tasks into the environment so you do not have to hold them in your head.
Notice what changes.
If follow through improves dramatically, ADHD may be a key piece.
If both weeks help, it may simply mean both are true.
Further reading
Elaine Aron on HSP and ADHD (FAQ).
https://hsperson.com/faq/hs-or-adhd/
Elaine Aron on the HSP who is also a High Sensation Seeker.
https://hsperson.com/the-highly-sensitive-person-who-is-also-a-high-sensation-seeker/
Psychology Today on Highly Sensitive and High Sensation Seeking.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-highly-sensitive-person/202307/highly-sensitive-and-high-sensation-seeking-individuals
Aeon essay describing the HSS HSP push pull in accessible language.
https://aeon.co/essays/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-highly-sensitive-person
ADDitude overview on Sensory Processing Sensitivity vs ADHD, including overlap and differences.
https://www.additudemag.com/highly-sensitive-person-sensory-processing-sensitivity-adhd/
Peer reviewed study on the relationship between sensory processing sensitivity and ADHD traits in adults.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33198048/
Systematic review and meta analysis on sensory processing differences in ADHD (Jurek et al., 2025).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40250555/
https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567%2825%2900209-6/fulltext
If you want to share
If you feel comfortable, share in the comments:
What do you recognise most, the pull toward novelty, the need for recovery, or the struggle with follow through.
And what has genuinely helped you so far.