Readers Respond: Pros and Cons of Being an Empath

Share Posts: Are you an empath, deeply sensitive to the emotions of other people? What empathic traits do you possess? Are you able to distinguish your own emotions from others? Do you feel being empathic is a gift or a curse? Share about your pro and con feelings here. Please don't expect answers to your questions or post telephone numbers in your share posts. This section is for only for sharing your positive and negative experiences/feelings. Share Your Feelings

Amazing

This article has put things into perspective. My empathic abilities have been sharpened more in the past 10 years than they have been before. I can no longer watch scary horror movies like "Chain Saw Massacre" or "Friday the 13th" or others of that sort. Neither can I ride a roller coaster. The intense fear is way too much emotion for me to handle. I'm more comfortable outside in my yard or, while I'm taking a walk. I see many rude and insensitive people in my job and it hurts me but, I just pray for them. I talk to God a lot, especially out on my back deck overlooking my back yard. The stars in the sky at night are very calming for me. Also, the frogs, crickets and other night animals doing their symphony is a source for my strength. I know when I'm about to get a call because I pick up my phone. I may stop at the store to buy something only to come home and find that my daughter has bought the very same thing. I am going to understand this better. It is a gift from God.

—Guest Peggy

I Hate Crowded Situations

Glad there is somebody else, very well written article. I have always been able to feel the people around me, if somebody in my family has a nightmare at my house and wake up, I wake up at the same time feeling terrified even if I was having a good dream. I almost couldn't be at my grandmother's viewing when she passed because there was about 30 or so people there and it was like all those emotions and my emotions crushing me, I hate crowded situations. I actually have a small question, are withdrawals related to emotion, currently my mother is quitting smoking and I feel nervous, jittery, I can't sleep or eat, when I do eat I get sick. It's just bad, if this is how it feels to go through withdrawals then I am never ever ever doing anything ever. I found that i do have to be in a mile radius for any emotions to come through though except people I really have built a bond with, then they can be 200 miles away and I can feel how they feel when there is a larger emotion, so I'm pretty sure that if I want to get away from my mother's emotions I would have to fly to another continent to get any kind of relief. But I don't ever want to get rid of it, it helps a lot when I know people need help. ( Note from Guide: Please post in the Support Group for Empaths section in the Healing Forums if you have questions or wish to interact with other empaths - http://bit.ly/gn4p6h )

—Guest ndYvMgXtzUvJRwsI

Look for Ways to Numb Myself

I can't believe I just came across this on my friend's Facebook link! I found out that I was an empath and had physic abilities to see the very near future in my 20s. I clearly remember the first time when I walked past an elderly man and my heart was so filled with sorrow that I started crying. Come to find out the man was suicidal and I was able to help him. Then the terrible visions came. I dreamt that I could see 3 women and their pictures were posted on a missing persons board. I could see a man in the woods with galoshes on looking for dirt patches. When I woke up and turned the TV on, it showed the 3 women who were kidnapped and later killed in Yosemite national park. The man I dreamt of was Carey Stayner, the man who murdered them. This all became too much for me and I remember saying if this is a gift I don't want it! I started drinking more and eventually using heroin everyday and just like that I turned into a full blown junkie. After cheating death so many times I decided to get help. My friends were dying one after another and I knew I would be soon. It's been 3 1/2 years now and i've been on suboxone which is a drug used to cure cravings. It saved my life and I relocated so I could again hide from this gift again. It doesn't work. I need help to be able to embrace these gifts because I still look for ways to numb myself.

—Guest irkafDqbwZpdmZOR

I knew there was something weird aboutme

I always knew there was something different about me. I learned about a year ago about my gift, but it's difficult to deal with sometimes, especially when dealing with feelings of hate, sadness, and anger. I had slowly been learning how to deal with this. I love how all you guys are open to tell us empaths how you deal with it and your stories, thank you. If you have any tips on how to deal with emotions please do tell it would make a lot of lives better. Thanks.

—Guest WhoKnew

Discovery

Every since i was little, I have understood the pain of others. I am only 16, and just discovering i am an Empath. I thought it was just my personality, I never knew there were others as well. Things finally make sense, after reading all of your experiences. I am drawn to those in pain, or struggling. I can sense what is truly going on. I can't stand surface level people, and I've always felt like somehow i was made to help people. I still don't know how to control or grow this empathy, but at least I'm aware. This year I had a lot of depression but it turns out I was just picking up on the emotions around me! This is so relieving.

—Guest Abbie

that's me

I can really relate to all things described in this text. It makes more sense now why I am so different than other people of my age. I am always overwhelmed by everything, and I need a lot of time on my own. I always see if someone is struggling with themselves and I find that unbearable. Also I cannot bear horror movies or when someone's dying. Then I feel how the people in the movie feel when you lose the ones you love. Wow.

—Guest Mee

Teen Empath

Yes! I always knew I was meant for something great... and here I am at 16, realizing I'm empathic! It can be great at times but also bothersome. If you block the energy, you'll be fine. Imagine a sort of force field around you and let bad emotions go... It looks like there are different types of empaths. I can feel the energy and interpret it as emotions. I can also tell if someone is telling a big lie, but it can crush you sometimes. Some people have known forever that they were empaths (not just feeling something, but specifically empathic), but I just realized it. I am practicing doing other things with energy, and I just wondered if I was. It came so naturally... I reached out to someone and felt their energy in me. I can feel it from a distance but it is easier to read this way. If you know how to rid of bad lingering emotions, you'll be fine. Sometimes, I will see a friend and go to hug them and read them. If they're tired it makes me yawn!

—Guest just me

Tips and Tricks for empaths!

I must admit I've always felt different, like I was meant for something more and part of that is being empathic! There are more pros than cons, and I learned a few tricks. First, you need to learn how to shield yourself from others energies. If you can't sleep at night, read people you know until you find one that is very tired, and in turn you will be very tired and fall asleep. Animals are very polar because they usually have a few select, uncomplicated emotions, like feeling happy, scared, alert, or sleepy. Just try to read your pets, it can make you smile.

—Guest WhiteGlow

Not the Only One

Sometimes I feel overwrought with emotions. I can sense things about people, animals, nature that baffles me to no end. At times, it works to my advantage. I can read situations and understand how to approach things so as to get the desired outcome for all at stake. I can help others in ways that I cannot help myself. At other times, it backfires on me completely. I lose myself caring too much for all that surrounds me. I also tend to come off as manipulative or smothering, because I care too much about bettering others and I just care too much in general. Things that are out of my control make me feel overwhelming sadness and grief. I feel the weight of the world, but it's something I would never give up.

—Guest Sarah

I'm empathetic

I can feel my wife's emotions and can feel her physical pain and it hurts physically when we away from each other. She's an empath as well and tends to just hear things others can't hear. Example: I can drown out a lot of noise just to focus on one thing that's invisible to the human eyes and ears.

—Guest Kevin

Nice to have some company.

32 y.o. guy, here. Empath since I can remember, Empath in my vocabulary for a week. 90% of these posts describe what I go through, myself - the ability to feel everything, means you feel everything at once. It's incredibly overwhelming(good and bad). I often wonder if I've ever had my own thought or emotion. I will go from being the most social person on the planet, to being refined to my room for hours or days on end...just trying to cope with the stimulus. Being in a group feels nice(im pretty sure that's me). Cheers everyone!

—Guest Eric

Being an empath gets tiresome

Sometimes I wish some empaths would pick up my own signals as well. It gets really tiresome and overwhelming, dealing with all the feelings and emotions, also the suffering you feel others go thru is taking its toll. Very well written article.

—Guest Dan

Boat with no sail.

I love people. The only thing i care about in my life is the memories where I can share complete happiness together with another being. I often walk into conversations with strangers (I know its rude :P) 99% the time the emotions I understand before the conversation aid me in befriending strangers. Sometimes strangers are relate-able on a level of emotion. I don't call myself an empath, but my biggest fear is to be alone and not bettering anyones life. In the world being alone happens alot. When im not alone im constantly judging my actions with others... i want I feel like a wasted napkin. A bug that lives only to die and continue the cycle that is life. A boat stuck in the middle of a windless sea.... and no idea why you were ever put there. (I fear that there was never a why... just my own personality falling short of my life expectations as a child) I hope that my open heart finds eyes that understand. If anyone knows how to deal with this form of depression... please help. ( Note from Guide: Please post in the Support Group for Empaths section in the Healing Forums if you have questions or wish to interact with other empaths - http://bit.ly/gn4p6h )

—Guest Patric

Feeling inbetween everything

I'm a teen in high school, I think I've been an empath my entire life, when I was little I was beyond over sensitive, like a dog even a harsh tone of voice or knowing and feeling someone thinks I was bad or did something bad made me ball like a baby. I tune into people's emotions and feelings even from afar. Especially loved ones. Even reading I turn into the person and feel what they feel experience what they experience. Even now I've been reading a book and when the girl liked a boy and went out with him a boy I knew came into mind and everytime I talked to him and saw him I immediately saw him as the girl in the book saw her boyfriend and remembered all the things the boy was in the book and what he did for the girl an thought he did them for me when he really didn't. When things went south for the couple in the book I grew annoyed with him. I can't control the empathy stuff but I learned to live with it and grow wider and older within from the knowledge I learn from it. But being an empath isn't all bad and of course not all good. It depends on how you choose to take it if like me you choose to see the good in all and everything (mostly) then it will work out better for you. But it's not perfect, I do slip into that void others do and get sucked up into because of being an empath. Like I said, it isn't perfect but nothing really is, it's called life. And as I can see some have slipped into that void as I have once or twice by your willpower alone can you get out of it. With me it takes words that I repeat in my head or out loud alone when I'm feeling sad or being over powered by another's emotions. memories soft happy heart melting memories that fill your chest with love and happiness so strong you can feel all the good energy around protect you from bad energy. It works well in the summer when life has flourished and is growing stronger by the day there's more energy around to surround you.

—Guest Teen in high school (freshmen)

It's too much.

Sometimes, there are just too many emotions and feelings coming at me. I get overwhelmed , I get a headache and I just don't feel like dealing with anything. I mean, it is pretty cool to be able to feel what someone else is feeling, but I just need to learn to block some emotions out so I don't feel overwhelmed.

—Guest Josh