Empaths are people who have supernatural abilities to capture the mental or emotional condition of another person. They’re often confused with somebody sympathetic towards others, but it’s so much more than feelings of compassion. They can recognize a person’s emotional state just by looking at their face. Additionally, they can absorb those emotions they sense.
There are different degrees within this unique gift, and some have more vigorous intuitive natures than others. Some can detect the person’s energy around them by simply noticing alterations in behavior or even voice tones. Other empathetic people will take on the emotions of the person near them.
For instance, if this gifted individual is sitting in a room with people affected by trauma, they can absorb that energy as if it was their emotion. It’s not always easy to navigate this gift. In fact, it makes life a difficult journey at times. Many empathetic people have a challenging time balancing their compassion with healthy boundaries.
Even day-to-day interactions at the office can take their toll on someone with this psychic gift. Since these folks can absorb the energy in the atmosphere, it can often be draining if they don’t learn effective ways to unplug and cleanse their mind.
Seven Things Empaths Feel…But Others Probably Miss
1. Extreme Emotions from Earth’s Shifts
Some empathetic folks will become surprisingly overwhelmed in certain situations, especially when faced with earthly events. It’s an odd sensation that takes over their body because many reports that they can feel shifts in the earth occurring in their bodies. These people can feel the pangs of Mother Earth during natural disasters and things such as changing the seasons.
Other empathetic people have reported being in intense emotional pain when being near something in nature like a volcano or thunderstorm. Since everything has an energy or vibration level, this gifted person can pick up those energy fields in a stronger sense than most. This individual needs to identify the things that cause them to be overwhelmed and learn to channel them properly.
By keeping mental notes of the emotionally draining things, you can learn what you should steer clear from in life. If it’s things you can’t avoid, you should be prepared for the intense emotions you will encounter. Some empathetic people will have extreme anxiety, mood swings, or even feelings of dread and impending doom.
Those people who can feel the shifts within the earth are usually more sensitive than most, and they rank high on the empath spectrum.
2. Taken Advantage of By Being A Counselor
People are intrigued by the gifts of the empathetic person, so they often turn to them as a confidante for their problems. As highly intuitive people, they can absorb these emotions, making it easy for people to take advantage of them. When people realize how easy they’re to talk to and their kind and caring nature, they tend to overload them.
While this is good for the person who needs someone to talk to, it’s not always suitable for the individual that takes on the emotions of others. It’s very draining to have people seek you out constantly and want to talk about their problems. Many empathetic people want to take on roles like a counselor or psychologist, but the work is more draining on them than most.
Being super sensitive to the feelings of others can cause significant emotional distress. It’s imperative to set boundaries to protect yourself, especially when people lean on you more than others.
3. Drained by Energy Zaps of Introversion
Being immersed in the emotions of others zaps you, so it’s essential to have plenty of time to be alone. What happens if a child leaves a battery-powered toy on all night long? The toy will drain the battery, and it will not function anymore.
Empathetic people have the same experiences as the emotions of others drain their resources. One thing that this gifted individual learns is that they need to be alone to recharge. Using techniques like journaling, meditation, yoga, and nature can help keep things in balance.
Oddly enough, many empathetic people are also introverted, and they need this quiet time to be alone with their thoughts. It’s also essential to balance the type of people you encounter each day, as being around those that are constantly draining can have a negative effect.
4. Overwhelmed in Intimate Relationships
Sure, anyone can be overwhelmed when it comes to the dating world, but the empath seems to have an incredibly challenging time. They don’t know how to set appropriate boundaries, and they often spend more time nurturing the other person than being supported. Being overwhelmed and exhausted is normal for the introverted and empathetic person, but it takes it to a whole different level when you add in the relationship aspects.
Empathetic people have a higher degree of vulnerability and can even be more codependent in these situations. Setting boundaries and acknowledging personal limitations can help to preserve mental wellness in these situations.
5. Large Crowds Are Draining
Many folks don’t like large crowds because they have social anxiety. Just being stuck in these large masses can send a person with an anxiety disorder into a tailspin. However, empaths avoid these groups for another reason.
Imagine being in a supermarket and picking up the emotions of every person you walk by. Walking down the aisle to get a gallon of milk can be overwhelming if you don’t know how to channel these feelings. You could pick up grief from someone who lost a loved one, devastation from an individual that broke off a relationship, and panic from someone who just lost their job.
All these emotions can cripple the empathetic person if they allow them to. So, it’s essential to learn how to channel these energies and decompress after the day.
6. Hypervigilance Makes Sleeping Next to Someone Impossible
Empaths feel isolated at times, especially in a relationship. Sleeping near someone can cause them to have a fitful night, especially if you’re one of the more overly sensitive people. As a person goes to sleep, their mind runs through daily events like a loop of a film playing on a movie projector.
The empathetic person not only replays the events of their day in their mind, but they also can feel all those emotions from the movie playing in the mind of the one beside them. It’s called hypervigilance, which means that you’re in a heightened state of arousal. According to the National Library of Medicine, this is often seen in those with anxiety disorders like PTSD.
However, when you’re trying to get a good night’s rest, watching two movies at once is the last thing you want to do.
7. Overwhelmed by The Need to Give
Empaths often go out of their way to help others, but they often damage aspects of their life in the process. It’s a common issue that this gifted person doesn’t know how to say the word “no.”
They often offer their time, energy, even money to friends and family while neglecting their own needs.
Though the empathetic person is honest to a fault, they’re not always honest about what they can and can’t handle. They often lack self-love, and they don’t take care of their needs. Saying “no” causes an extreme amount of guilt as they feel their superpower has mandates from the Universe to help others.
However, everyone needs to rest their mind, body, and spirit, or they will be an emotional mess. If your physical man is sick, then your mind and spirit also feel the brunt of the pangs.
Final Thoughts on the Things Empaths Feel
The hallmark of being an empathetic person is the ability to feel and engage with other individuals’ feelings or bodily issues, as this person has an elevated level of sympathy. Empaths purify the earth through their vast amount of insight, but they often have a challenging time understanding their emotions.
There are many challenges to being an empathetic individual. When exhausted with the effects of stressful feelings, these folks may encounter the following responses:
- extreme anxiety
- depressive episodes
- binge eating
- sexual promiscuity
- self-medicating practices with drugs or alcohol
- physical signs that don’t qualify for a medical diagnosis.
The empathetic person must learn how to re-center themselves after a day of encountering many emotions. If they don’t understand and utilize these techniques, they will become overloaded and even sick. Some of the best strategies to safeguard your sympathies include using things like setting appropriate boundaries, utilizing time management, meditation, and spending plenty of time with Mother Nature.
Learning to take care of yourself is not always easy. That statement’s especially true when you’ve been given a gift that helps you take care of others. However, you must remember that if you’re an empath that you have special needs. You must honor your needs because how can you help others if you first don’t care for yourself?
As an article on the National Library of Medicine states, empaths must learn to turn on and off their switch if they want to be healthy.
