My Feelings Are Hurt: Growing Up as a Highly Sensitive Teenage Boy

An important note from the author about his book: When I wrote this book, I did not know I had Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, or that the condition even existed. I learned that I had RSD in about 2024. In my book, I discuss incidents whereby my feelings were hurt very badly. My feelings as a child and teenager were primarily hurt because of rejection or perceived rejection from girls my age. I was devastated.

A passage from my book:

Chapter 18

Even in my senior year of high school, I wasn't looking for a girlfriend—but I fell in love anyway, with a girl on my school bus. I had talked with her briefly a few times, but never had the courage to ask her out on a date.

One day, she sat behind my friend, James, and me.

"Rich, why don't you sit with your girlfriend?" he said, pointing behind us at the girl.
"He is not my boyfriend!" she emphatically stated.

James just chuckled a little. My insides sank. She didn't like me, I thought.

In reality, though, what she'd said had nothing to do with what she thought about me. Of course, she'd say what she did. I didn't realize it at the time, but she would naturally be embarrassed to imply that she’d like to be my girlfriend in front of everyone on the bus. I didn't realize that at the time, though. I felt worse than ever.

No girl will ever like me. I was adamant; I refused to believe otherwise. But I still had hope: At the university, I planned to find a girlfriend.

FREE E-Book Download

About the Book:

Richard Carlson grew up as a teenager in the 1980s and early '90s. He was teased by his peers, and his feelings were often hurt. He was unaware that he was different from most people; he has a highly sensitive personality trait, which 15 to 20 percent of people, both men and women, are born with. He never realized how sensitive he was until he was nearly twenty-one years old. Unfortunately, because Richard didn't know he was sensitive, he didn’t take rejection well, and his self-esteem was devastated. Indeed, he missed out on a lot as a teenager because of low self-esteem. For more information about this book, visit www.sensitiveboys.com