Empath Self-Care Tips
What is an empath? An empath is highly intuitive, sensitive, and absorbs the emotions, pain, and joy of other people. If you’re an empath, you identify with other people immensely, often taking on their problems as your own. You may find yourself “feeling” for people you don’t even know. You identify strongly with how someone feels, and try to put yourself in their shoes. You have a visceral reaction to pain and suffering in the world.
If you’re an empath, you are very giving. With proper self-care, you can manage your giving nature without becoming overwhelmed. You require a great deal of alone time to recharge, and to remove the energy imprints of others. Empaths are naturally drawn to the caring professions, the healing arts, and may also be highly creative.
Empaths vs Highly Sensitive People
How do empaths differ from highly sensitive people (HSPs)? While most empaths are also highly sensitive, not all HSPs are empaths. HSPs are emotionally and biologically affected by external stimuli like noise, touch, fabrics, light, and taste more than average people. Their feelings are intense, they are intuitive, and are usually creative. What distinguishes empaths from HSPs is that they are sponges, absorbing the energy, feelings, and imprints of other people to a great extent.
As an empath myself, it’s not an easy road. I now see it as a gift, but self-care is a must. Without self-care, empaths can absorb too much of someone else’s energy, which can lead to depression and burnout. Boundaries and other self-care measures may help you avoid being exploited by narcissists and other unscrupulous individuals who are drawn to your abundance of empathy.
Self-care Tips
Self-care can help empaths stay in their own energy and avoid depression.
Here are some tips:
- Ground yourself
Whether through breathwork, being in nature, or walking barefoot in sand, grass, or dirt, grounding helps center empaths and remove any external energy you may have absorbed.
- Spend time alone
Empaths may or may not be introverts, but they absolutely need alone time to recharge. This is because as an empath, you are a literal sponge and absorb too much of other people’s energy. While it’s great to be a sounding board for others, people can “dump” their problems onto you. You may also absorb their feelings without even trying. Spending time alone to regroup and recharge will help remind you of who you are and to enable you to reclaim your own energy.
- Establish strong boundaries
This is a big one. Boundaries are essential for empaths. As an empath, you may be targeted by narcissists, and unscrupulous people may take advantage of your giving nature. Boundaries help you avoid this fate. A boundary can simply be saying “no,” asserting yourself, or unfollowing people online to distance yourself from their energy. There are many other ways to establish boundaries, and I’ll explore this topic more in a future post.
- Visualize a “protection” bubble around you
When you are out in public or at a gathering, visualize a “bubble” of protective energy surrounding you. This helps shield you from unwanted external energies and influences.
- Spend time in nature
Simply spending time in nature can soothe you. Empaths are naturally drawn to the elements, animals, and plants. Having a pet or a lot of plants may help you. Animals often gravitate to empaths, so having a pet or volunteering to work around animals can help you connect to nature’s “source” and help discharge the “noise” of the modern world.
- Take a break from technology or social media
As empaths, we love people, and often love sharing our creative work, or our lives, online. Unfortunately, the online world can be toxic at times and is a playground for narcissists. It can also turn off our own internal validation mechanisms. This makes us focus too much on external validation and the opinions of others. Empaths tend to take things at face value, forgetting that social media is often not “real.” While there are many online resources and support groups for empaths, be careful. Narcissists know this and often infiltrate these groups for supply.
Taking a break from social media, minimizing time online, and turning off your phone works wonders.
These tips should help you become a more empowered empath. I’ve used all of these tips in the past. Protect your gift – it is so valuable to the world. But you come first, always.
If you’re an empath, how do you recharge and protect yourself? Let me know in the comments!
Sources:
Belojevic G, Jakovljevic B, Slepcevic V. Noise and mental performance: personality attributes and noise sensitivity. Noise Health. 2003;6(21):77-89
Dossey L. Introverts: A Defense. Explore (NY). 2016;12(3):151-60. doi:10.1016/j.explore.2016.02.007
Grapsas, S., Brummelman, E., Back, M. D., & Denissen, J. (2020). The “Why” and “How” of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit. Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 15(1), 150–172.
Kacel, E. L., Ennis, N., & Pereira, D. B. (2017). Narcissistic Personality Disorder in Clinical Health Psychology Practice: Case Studies of Comorbid Psychological Distress and Life-Limiting Illness. Behavioral medicine (Washington, D.C.), 43(3), 156–164.
