Empath Tip #2: Sometimes you can't save the one you want to.
There is someone in my life that I would like to save. I'd like to pull this person out of their circumstances, show them how loved they are, and help them restart a life on their own.
I want them to believe in themselves like I believe in them.
I want them to have the kind of love in life that they truly deserve.
I want them to have things that make them happy, just for themselves, not for anyone else, and not because someone else told them that it was (or was not) okay to have them.
Your body is telling you what is off. Let me help you translate it.
I'll never forget the moment a doctor told me, "Well, now you've got chronic fatigue. It's incurable; you'll have to live with it."
It wasn't entirely surprising to me; I'd been working myself over 100 hour weeks even after being diagnosed with mono and told to take 6 weeks off. Instead, I'd taken only a half day off and just kept going.
And now, I'd finally hit a wall. I'd be able to do something for an hour, then I'd have to lay down for the rest of the day.
It. was. AWFUL.
As an empath, you feel the emotions of the world as your own.
One of the most difficult and debilitating things about being an empath is that you feel other's emotions as your own; it can be extremely difficult to be able to tell whether it's your emotion you're feeling or others emotions from around you.
You'll also notice that there are times when you wake up and just feel amped, worried, anxious, and on high alert. There won't be anything in your immediate world that's particularly disturbing, so it's hard to figure out why in the world you feel so "off."
Even strong people need support sometimes.
I remember a time when I was going through so much that I truly thought I would break. We had gone through our 4th or 5th failed adoption, and we had to put our beloved dog of 16 years to sleep due to an extremely fast-growing cancer that gave us just days to figure out what to do (and there was no treatment possible).
I am a person who tries to always see the bright side of things. I always look for the lesson. I always believe that even bad things are leading me to something better.
But, in that moment, I hit rock bottom. My faith shattered. My heart was broken in a way I felt was permanent. I had picked myself up and brushed myself off so many times, and I truly felt in that moment that I could not do it again. The weight of the sorrow of all of that loss was overwhelming.