EMontWrites

Empath’s feel the weight of everyone’s pain on our shoulders regularly. But during a pandemic, we feel the weight of the world.

The new coronavirus pandemic has taken the lives of more than 170,000 people. One life leaves dozens of broken hearts and families. Lives are lost leaving those to mourn without proper funerals and left to say goodbye without one last kiss.

While we may not know anyone directly affected by this pandemic, but empaths feel their pain and internalize it as their own. We put ourselves in the shoes of others constantly.

We hear about a family furloughed and can’t pay rent, we immediately feel sympathy for those involved, we see someone upset on Facebook, we post a comment of encouragement because we know how they feel. It could be a total stranger, we know how they feel.

So when a family mourns, we subconsciously mourn with you from afar. Seeing the pain and loss this pandemic has caused people we begin to feel lost ourselves because there is literally nothing we can do to help (but stay home and wear a mask).

We can’t see friends and family like we used to, can’t go to the movies, instead of running back in the house for the car keys we’re running back for a mask. Friends call us to vent, rant and unload, while we internalize, respond and console them.

At a time when emotions are fragile, so are we.

The future seems grim and uncertain but we hold on to the thought that good days are coming soon.

Take care of yourself, too.

Empaths spend a lot of time helping others and worrying if people are OK. But it’s important to check in with yourself and make sure you’re OK.

Understand you’re just one person, who can’t carry the weight of everyone’s emotions and needs to unplug and recharge often.

When you hold space for others constantly it’s easy to forget about yourself. You can’t pour from an empty cup so take as much time as you need to refill yourself. Every day, week, month of 2020 has had more bad news than good, be kind to yourself.

Turn off social media

I have a love hate relationship with social media. Love it for all the ways it allows us to connect with eachother and even people we don’t know. Hate it because we spend hours scrolling down timelines and less time actually living real life.

But during this pandemic we have ample time to scroll endlessly until it’s time for bed.

So creating boundaries with social media and even texting is important during this time. Cutting off the notifications and taking a break from the app allows you to recharge again. Being updated with information all day gets mentally exhausting, things change in an instant and sad stories are published every day.

To make the weight of the world a little lighter to carry, turn off the world sometimes.

Set boundaries for people

This is empath life 101, setting boundaries for other people is the best thing you can do to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed.

People will always need something, it doesn’t matter what time or what you’re doing, if they need you they will reach out to you. And that’s ok! But if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed it’s time to set a boundary.

The “do not disturb” option on your phone is your best friend. I set mine for 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. not even a handful of people can reach me between those hours. Your DND hours depend on your own life situation but having a few uninterrupted hours to yourself is necessary for empath survival.

Feel the pain

Empaths love our emotions. We thrive in them and we can relate to others through emotions. So sometimes in order to understand what’s happening we have to acknowledge the pain.

We are human at the end of the day and this pandemic is painful. It’s territory we have never experienced before.

So experience it, feel it.

When you feel your cup getting full read this post from the beginning.

Empathy is something everyone could have a little more of right now.