Why Do Empaths Struggle With Self-Love And Self-Care?
Why do so many empaths struggle with overwhelm, exhaustion, and burnout?
Have so many issues around boundaries and feeling so much.
The Empaths Struggle
So many empaths struggle to say NO, many find it difficult to create and maintain healthy energetic boundaries which can lead to all sorts of life, health, work, and business challenges. Especially issues around self-care, self-love, and self-compassion.
Their high level of empathy, and ability to sense other people’s physical, mental, emotional even spiritual often leads to strong tendencies towards over-caring, over-giving, and putting others’ needs before their own.
So much so that they are more likely to suffer from exhaustion, stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. Especially when so many of you have strong archetypal traits of the martyr, fixer, healer, nurturer, and rescuer.
Why Do Many Empaths Struggle With Over Giving?
Empaths struggle with over-giving and caring because most empaths are in some way energetically aware and often immersed in the energy, pain, and drama of the people and things around them.
An empath will often find it difficult to differentiate their own needs, their energy field from the energy field, and the emotions of others.
Common Empathic Traits
An empath will be very aware of other people’s emotions and needs they will often absorb another person’s feelings and or pain.
Empaths often need lots of time out, empaths are so sensitive to the energy and people around them they need lots of time out.
Empaths are often highly sensitive so are more sensitive to energy; not just people but their surroundings, places, items, the world, and animals…
The empathic child will often bring these gifts through very clearly but if those around don’t understand and support the child’s gifts, the child will often feel confused, ashamed, and fearful which often leads to an emotional and or energetic shut-down.
Empaths can be very misunderstood like the HSP they can be categorised as too weak, too sensitive, strange, or weird because of their heightened awareness and experiences that most people have no comprehension of.
Empaths very easily lose their identity in relationships so can often avoid close or intimate relationships to protect themselves. They can find it extremely challenging to deal with controlling relationships, parents, and work colleagues.
A lot of empaths are introverted but for those with more extroverted tendencies, it is often important for them to spend time alone or resting.
Many empaths end up with burnout or other types of chronic health challenges due to poor management of their gifts.
Especially lack of boundaries, and over-attachment to being the carer, supporter, helper, healer, and nurturer. Most wounded healers are empaths.
Many empaths don’t just feel and absorb people’s emotional pain but also feel their physical pain.
How To Heal The Empaths Struggle
Get More Soul-Aligned and Soul Connected
One of the most powerful things anyone can do to become more soul-empowered and spiritually boundaries is to get more soul-connected and soul-aligned. We are more spiritually guided and aligned with our soul’s essence and our soul’s calling than energetically interfered with other people’s wounding and distortions.
Start to take one step, one moment at a time, and be less in the future, the past, or in the what-ifs. Don’t let the monkey mind run or ruin your world.
Start meditating daily. Meditation helps you not only be in the moment, and be more grounded and centered but it increases self-awareness. It will help you become more of a witness when you are giving your energy or power away to others. Sign up for my Free 5 Minute Meditation.
Inner child work is a powerful way to heal incidents in your life’s timeline where you took on unhealthy thought patterns, trauma, and suppressed emotions that are causing blockages in your health and well-being.
Are you ready to turn your empathic gifts into your biggest strength?
Are you ready to nurture your spiritual and intuitive gifts?
One of the biggest challenges many empaths have is they get burned out and overwhelmed. They can often feel energetically that everyone wants a piece of them. And as Dr. Elaine Aaron and Dr. Northrup suggest there are a lot more people who think they are empaths than they are. You may have empathic traits but that doesn’t mean you are an empath. So many people struggle to understand the unique challenges empaths face.
Especially if you are the type of empath who automatically wants to help fix, heal, nurture, care, or support anyone who you think needs it. Because unconsciously you absorb their pain while they feed off and deplete your energy. This can be an unhealthy cycle many empaths struggle to break. Because consciously never mind unconsciously empaths are so used to being of service.
They are so compassionate being in tune with other people’s pain, so used to absorbing all sorts of energy around them. That saying no and having boundaries can feel as if it goes against your soul essence.
The Empaths Need To Learn How To Say NO
As an empath and/or sensitive you have to be able to say no, you need to learn how to have strong boundaries. You have to be energetically aware when others are trying to push their agenda and needs onto you. At a cost to you. You are the only person who knows what you can give to others healthily and what you can’t, something I still work on. And yes for most empaths boundaries is not something that comes easily.
Why Empaths Attract The Needy, The Narcissists, and Energetic Vampires
So many empaths attract the needy, the narcissists, and the energy vampires. If we are not fully in our body or mindful don’t it can be harder to detect when we are being sucked dry energetically by another person until after the event.
So many of us have spent most of our life enmeshed in other people’s drama, energy, and pain that we genuinely don’t recognise our own needs or feelings in the situation.
Energetic Boundaries And Self Awareness
So energetic and boundary awareness is something we seriously need to work on. Anyone who struggles with energetic boundaries can also be more easily swayed by other people’s ideas, and thoughts because of the dis-entanglement of energetic thought patterns.
If you were discouraged from standing up for your own needs as a child or were silenced in some way. Lack of assertiveness and boundaries has to be addressed alongside a deep recognition that your needs are as important as others.
Inner Child Healing And Therapy
Inner Child work can help with this challenge because these beliefs and conditioning were formed in childhood.
As a highly sensitive caring empath for as long as I can remember. I attracted many people and situations in my personal and business life that didn’t serve me. Why? Because I am a natural overgiver, someone who for most of my life has been an energetic sponge.
When Everyone Wants A Piece Of You At Work
On one hand, it can extremely positive when you have skills and gifts people feel they want or need. But only when your gifts are being equally valued. When you are receiving the right exchange and energy efficiently in a healthy and balanced way.
But so many empaths in businesses not only undervalue their worth but are so motivated by service to others. Their business can easily become more of a charity rather than a business. Often letting their empathic nature get in the way of vital business decisions. Empaths in business often attract freebie seekers, energy exchangers, and even manipulators.
When You Attract Mostly The Freebie Seekers
For years I attracted as a highly empathic nurturer and caregiver I attracted so many of the wrong clients and the wrong audience. Despite always giving many freebies in my business. I would receive so many emails and Facebook messages from those looking for favors, discounts, or freebies.
As someone who lived on their own, self-employed with a lot of disabilities and health challenges that impacted my daily life and work great. I had to learn to set healthier boundaries and stop giving into clients and students that were often not being completely honest with themself or me.
Most importantly I need to remind myself daily that I need to be served in life to serve others.
When everyone wants a piece of you for free, in-fact expects a piece of you for free, that is something that has to be addressed.
The Problem With People Pleasing Empath
If you have been a people pleaser most of your life, as an empath it can be harder to say NO than the person asking will ever realise. As you are so energetically aware of that person’s emotional pain and vulnerabilities.
Now I run quite a few free Facebook groups for many years but I closed many of them down because of some of the crazy expectations and sense of entitlement.
So many personal messages from people who assumed I should give my time, energy, wisdom, and even courses for free. Despite already offering a plethora of resources; free blogs, podcasts, videos, self-study, and live training. Even more surprising was the amount of manipulation from a group of empaths and highly sensitive people.
Empaths Tips – What You Can Do To Take Your Power Back
Develop Self Awareness
when we develop more awareness of the self and our energy we can become more detached from the drama and projections of others. We are less likely to be triggered by our empathic vulnerabilities. One of the easiest ways to do that is to learn effective meditation techniques. Check out my 5 Minute Meditation a powerful meditation tool
Know Your Needs Are Your Priority
it is vital you work on recognising you are just as important as those around you. You need to be able to take care of your needs before you help anyone else. Lemon oil can help us get more clarity and focus.
Step Back Energetically
consciously step away from their energy and get grounded. If you have to imagine you are removing that person from your energy field or unhooking them, do so. Most people have no awareness they are hooking in on or taking from someone energetically. They are just like everyone else on the planet unconsciously trying to get a need filled. Learn to protect your energy with the right energy clearing and energy protection tools.
Take Time Out
take plenty of time to unplug from everything, especially others’ energy fields. So you energetically get back into your own body. Even moving yourself to another room or outside, space from the situation for a few minutes can help.
Don’t Overthink It
don’t allow the ruminating mind to take over. Oh, I should be helping them…it’s a shame…
Disentangle From Others’ Victimhood And Manipulation
Don’t allow someone else’s victimhood or manipulation to hook you into their mess. This is simply a subtle form of control, that people use to get what they want out of a situation.
allow your inner guidance to make the right decisions again don’t let others sway your decisions. As a very highly sensitive empath and intuitive who has worked with energy for over 30 years. I often have a deep sense of knowing or feeling others’ energetic motives which others are unaware of. When I allow others views to cloud my guidance it usually doesn’t serve me.
Heal the childhood experiences that have made you believe you have to fix, nurture, care, support, and heal others. Heal the inner child that struggles or doesn’t know how to set energetic boundaries.
