Being empathic gives you an extraordinary connection with others. Having a strong sense of your own emotions, keeping rigid boundaries, and maintaining the ability to care for your own emotional health will equip you to mitigate the downsides. Of course, you do want to help them. As empaths, we always do everything we can to help people out. Often it feels like an obligation like we have no choice otherwise. When people seek you out specifically for your comfort and help, they are pulling it from you and demanding it.

The goal of your alone time should be revitalization. Your day to day life will improve drastically. Focus on being 100% present. Take a few calming breaths. Touch a nearby object and focus on it intently. At that point, it becomes so much easier to manage the constant flow of emotions that bombard your senses day in and day out as an empath. It may seem foreign and strange, but self-compassion is vital for empaths. Giving yourself the grace and self-care you need will benefit you immensely. You shouldn’t feel guilty about doing it. Being an empath myself, I have often wondered if there’s anything that can be done about all the downsides. Because, to be honest, sometimes I really do hate it.The good news is that there’s definitely something that can be done. In this article, I’m going to help you not only understand yourself better as an empath but also give you some really great pointers to help you deal with the all too prevalent downsides. You aren’t the only one that often feels this way, and you’re very valid for feeling like you hate being one sometimes.

It doesn’t have to be detailed: mark the time and place, the emotion, and the person if you think it appropriate. It can even just be a word. 2) Cherish your alone time As an empath, you know just how fiercely you feel everything. Not only do you feel things that happen to you specifically, but you also feel everyone else’s emotions, too. I Don’t Want to Be an Empath Anymore: How to Reclaim Your Power Over Emotional Overload, Maintain Boundaries, and Live Your Best Life Ora North brings a raw and powerful look at the reality of being an empath. It’s not always glitter and unicorns; we must take a long, hard look at the wounds and shadows we hold; we must get real to heal. Ora skillfully guides us through this process so we can take off the spiritual mask and claim our true power as empaths.”Simone Butler, an astrological consultant at www.astroalchemy.com, and author of Moon Power and Astro Feng Shui“Ora North has penned an instant classic. I Don’t Want to Be an Empath Anymore is the kind of book you immediately feel understood by; the kind of book that feels so perfect and obvious, you’re a little surprised it didn’t exist before it did. I devoured it and then gave it to my favorite people, because I wanted them to feel understood too.” That’s not a good environment for an empath. Especially if it’s a customer-facing position: the toll on your energy leaves you listless and numb. There’s really no shame in it, even though it’s unhealthy. It’s a survival technique, a form of self-preservation. Evaluating your habits for any signs of addiction or abuse is always a good idea, empath or not. These will bring you away from the feelings that threaten to overwhelm you. Grounding yourself will help you regulate your emotions, and the emotions you feel from others.

Having a deep understanding of people’s emotions, to the point of feeling them as if they were your own, tends to create compassion. But it doesn’t always have to be like that. Just because we can take other people’s emotions on doesn’t mean we have to keep them. Learning the details of people’s stories and the things that caused them to feel a certain way will benefit you. Studies show talking to strangers is good for everyone, but it can be a useful tool for empaths.Erin Schroeder, The Psychic Witch, psychic teacher“As a ‘cry of the millennial witch,’ this guidebook has much to offer those who need to effectively harness the powers of empathetic sensitivities rather than be consumed by them. The author speaks volumes to the various aspects of being an empath in our culture, such as the dangers of the ‘positive vibe only’ complacency, past trauma, and the neglect of certain emotions. She offers innovative exercises such as listing your victims and villains of your shadow self, a formula to write your own pain alchemy affirmation, throwing yourself a pity party, and creating voluntary energetic blindness. Bravo, Ms. North!!”

When I’m constantly overstimulated by the intense emotions from the people around me and my environment, I almost adjust to it. While I don’t always sleep the best, I do get regular, healthy sleep most of the time. It doesn’t help me from being tired. This one is close to home for me, too. I’m almost always drained. When people ask me how I am, I pretty much always say, “tired.” For example, let’s say you’ve been keeping a journal: each time you feel yourself absorb an emotion you write it down. It’s so easy to get lost, overwhelmed, and have no idea what to do about it. The muddled confusion and mess of living in so many other people’s feelings can leave you with little energy to do anything about it.So cherish your alone time. When you have time to yourself, focus your energy on healing, metabolising that negative energy, and recuperating. Kathryn L. Robyn, healer, artist, author of Spiritual Housecleaning, and coauthor of The Emotional House“Ora North is the wise, witchy aunt I never had, who has arrived on the scene just when this heartbroken world needs her most. How I wish I could’ve read this bracing tonic of a book when I was sixteen, and so overwhelmed by confusing, painful emotions that all I could do was bury them. Ora reassures us in her straight-talking way that it’s never too late to witness and integrate our dark, scary feelings—and regain our equilibrium. Goddess bless her for doing this groundbreaking work, and for writing this compelling, enlightening book to empower sensitive souls like me!” Or, more likely, you get fed up with the job — too bored and too tired — and move on to something else, in the hopes it’ll be better at the next place. Empaths give. They give of themselves, they give of their time. What they take is the negative. They absorb people’s negative emotions, take away their pain as best as they can. The constant emotional drain, the inability to turn off your feelings. Crowds are almost always overwhelming–the list goes on.