Comfort for Empathetic Souls

Those aren’t your feelings

Sometimes I carry feelings that aren’t always my own. Recently this happened and it kept me up at night (4am). I was worried about something that happened to someone and I carried her fear, I carried the pain of those around her. I was so restless I picked up my phone to distract me and that only intensified the situation because then I saw other things on social media apps. I begin to feel emotionally overwhelmed. I was feeling so much I shut down and became sad and I felt the urge to withdraw. By that I mean, withdrawing from an form of connection or engagement with the outer world. If you’ve ever felt like this then I want to pray for the empathetic soul.

How the empathetic processing & system overload can occur

What does it mean to carry the weight of someone else’s feelings as your own? It means you feel what you perceive they feel. Fear, sadness, nervousness, depression, pain, and even joy. When you feel these things intensely and all at once your nervous system becomes overstimulated and you may assume these feelings are your own. The body responds to too many emotions and begins trying to process the response. Sometimes that response causes people to withdraw, become overly sensitive to absolutely anything, anxiety/depression, and believe it or not even an emotional high. The emotional high may look a lot like indulging in fun/excitement/splurging trying to flee from the overwhelming feelings you don’t want to feel.

At some point you still crash because you’re functioning with a very overloaded system and by natural design, we don’t have the capacity to carry everything. When we encounter trouble or our brotherhood there is one greater who advocates for us.

Reflections

How to help yourself decompress

Here’s what I’ve managed to do and I hope this helps you. When your body goes into this over stimulated state, ask yourself :

1. Why do I feel this way?

2. Are these my feelings or someone else’s feelings

3. Am I safe or will something happen to me based on these feelings

4. What energy have I soaked up and should I create a barrier to stabilize

5. If these feelings continue, the Lords power is my safe haven, it is enough to ground me so pray. If you’re still struggling, seek therapy.

Sensitivity is a gift

Your sensitivity may feel like a burden but it is a gift. When you are in a relaxed state and you’re not overwhelmed, you have the gift to listen with care and understand what someone is going through. You can help others through challenging times. You become a trusted safe place when people are hurting. You can help them process their own feelings and find ways to cope. In all this, you just have to remember to decompress. If you don’t, your gift will feel like a burden.

You have gift to help but not to carry.

Accountability for the empathic soul

Remember empathize finest mean compromise your well being. When you take in too much stimuli step away and reset to process your feelings. Don’t resent the people around you for not noticing your drowning in emotions. Speak up and explain that you need to momentarily break away. That break is necessary, it’s oxygen for the empathetic soul. Just make sure when it comes to family, friends, a job etc. that you communicate and take a break don’t completely withdraw. You will send your loved ones into shock and they may not understand what they’ve done or is happening to you. Help them process too, your needs matter but they may need to understand what you’re experiencing in order to respect those needs.

Prayer Heavenly Father I release my cares to you. I trust you Father to advocate on the behalf of myself and my sisters and brothers. Although my heart weighs with the concerns of others sometimes, I know it is you who can intercede on their behalf. Help me to turn to you and not inwardly when I am overcome with emotion. ~ Amen