Are You An Overly Empathetic Person
Updated: Jan 17, 2024
Written by: Carole L. Sanek, Senior Level Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Good question and within my own personal life and my business world as a life coach I could name names.
Guess what, feeling another person’s pain is not a normal reaction.
People who absorb the pain others are feeling are on edge almost all the time. Is this you? Take some time before answering because most people do not realize they are doing this and it can cause anxiety.
I am a helper. I have been a helper all my life. I also know when to back away, when to turn it off. It will become too heavy to bear. I am an empath who understands others’ feelings but I do not join them at the hip and morph into them.
We know what many people do to combat those feelings, they turn to food, alcohol and other things to turn off those feelings yet they do not understand what evil lies at the root of all of this.
I had not really thought about the fact some people have excessive empathy. As I started doing research into this topic I thought about all the burnout friends of mine in the professions of mental health professionals who have talked about their careers.
Empaths know we are highly sensitive people. Empathy begins in early childhood and can start as early as the age of one. You may have seen the adorable videos of toddlers who may not have seen each other for a period of time. They run to each other, they hug each other, they are filled with joy. They care at that early age.
Hyper-empathetic people have a higher sensitivity to pain and are very sensitive to negative expressions and emotions – again this made me think about people I know in the fields of mental health who have compassion fatigue and burnout.
Disconnection is not easy for hyper-empaths because they take on the pain and anxiety of others, especially in social situations.
Emotional storms and mood swings are often seen by others who wonder why this person who is such a good listener and gives great advice would suddenly act out.
There is no true treatment for hyper-empathy but there are things people can use to avoid the overwhelm and keep themselves in control of their emotions.
The steps one can take are simple and of no surprise, because the steps work for so many anxious moments.
Use good relaxing breathing techniques.
Put your hand below your abdominal area and feel yourself breathe.
Try to clear your mind of everything.
Use several keywords to center yourself, I call them reminder words.
Get outside, ground yourself in the magnificence of nature.
Put boundaries in place and don’t cross them yourself or allow others to cross them.
Take excellent care of yourself.
Remember this, a good therapist can help. They can teach you tools to use.
I just completed 3 years of intense grief therapy and the healing I received from this spilled over into other areas of my life too.
I am an empath who has always been able to disconnect and I am so grateful I can. If you cannot, then I have given you some great tips for moving forward and having less anxiety in your life.
Carole Sanek, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Carole L. Sanek is a certified life coach specializing in personal coaching from a perspective of understanding grief. Carole is also an author and her book Fractured-Living with Grief was published in 2021. Her daily 2-minute podcast, thrivelivethrivezone, is available on all podcast platforms. Carole is currently working on a film project and is producing a docuseries about thriving in life. She welcomes people to reach out to her.
