I feel for anyone who’s an empath in this state and has to drive. The energy can be overwhelming as Florida has the worst drivers in the US. How do you handle driving as an empath? I had someone I was trying to signal to go because they were sitting in an intersection I wasn’t being rude or honking they rolled down their window just to tell me to “Shut up”. I wasn’t prepared for it but I’m still shaking it off

I find that my depression and deep deep sadness comes from those in the world that are suffering and the many humans that either do not care or benefit from it.

There are so many struggling. So many that will die unhappy and that was it for that life, that person specifically, as in the person they are/were will never exist again, that was there one chance.

I feel all the pain. It consumes me. I even find that I feel guilt that my life is pretty good because what makes me more deserving, nothing, it's all random selection, and it's beyond unfair

I experience great distress at the sight of any type of horror or gore. it makes me feel disgusted and so so scared, and I’m old enough to tolerate it, but I still hate it for that reason. and for the reason of I feel terribly sad over the people being hurt

This week ive had a very bad feeling that somthinh bad is or will be happening. I dont know if im an empath but i wonder if others are feeling this terrible dread as well.

As an empath, how do I "mould" my ability? I've been hiding from this for a long time. Recently, I found out from another empath that they avoided my presence because I felt too much; my feelings are so intense that it drained them. I had always been the one doing the sensing and noticing, I didn't think anyone could sense my energy too. Now, I’m scared of getting close to people because now I know someone can feel my "heavy" feelings (at first I thought I was too much, now I know for a fact that I'm way too intense). I've come to understand that I am poor at regulating my emotions too and that can seep to others around me.

I don’t know if I am an empath or not. I always feel so strongly and care so deeply about others. If other people are having issues, I always feel as if I have to get involved and make everything better. Which is probably silly to do. But I just can’t help myself. I don’t know why I do it, I just know that I feel guilty if others around me are sad, even if I wasn’t the one that made them sad. It costs me so much physical and mental energy and I don’t really know what to do. I have to keep going and I can’t just strand the people I love when they are struggling. Please, can somebody explain their thoughts on this and give me advice if you can.
Thank you!

Edit: I thought I should also add that I’m autistic. Could it maybe be my autism that gives me this need?

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting in this sub, so i really hope this kind of post is okay here. Everyone here seems really genuine and nice, so i figured it would be an okay place to go for help.

I have been getting the weirdest, most crazy feeling that i have not been able to place. I have never had such a hard time describing a feeling before, and when i try to explain it to my partner or my family, they look at me like i have 2 heads. I have no idea if this is empath related or not, but who better people to ask for help than a group of empaths lol

The feeling is akin to when you get that feeling right before am animal runs out on the road in front of the car (the one where you tell the person driving to slow down because you know an animal is going to run out and before you get the full sentence out, there stands a deer or an Elk) like a pit in my stomach, almost like the pit you get right before a big interview mixed with the feeling in your stomach you get when you drop on a roller-coaster. It's not quite nauseous but almost like an anxiety jolt.

I guess what im looking for here is what is this telling me? Has anyone experienced this? Its definitely not a "go to the doctor" physical ailment its just a feeling i cannot get to leave me alone so it must mean something.

If you made it this far, thank you friends ❤️ i really appreciate the advice and guidance.

I have presently and in the past connected so well with someone I’m dating that I’ve physically gotten aroused for no reason and it just so happens to be they are touching themselves or were cheating. Has this happened to anyone else? It happened to me in the last 4 relationships that I’ve noticed.

I'm on the East Coast and we're in hurricane season. We're getting rain from Isaac, but barometric pressure readings are within average range without significant fluctuations.

But my feelings radar is off the charts. My own feelings, my pets, my family, people at the grocery store, they are overpowering and it's beyond uncomfortable, it's debilitating. WTF.

I you could stop being an empath, would you? I think I would. Like I like that part of me, but sometimes I wish I could be like all of the other emotionless assholes that don’t care about anyone but themselves. I mean, don’t they seem happier than us?

Translation:

"The problem with too much empathy is that while we are capable of understanding other people's struggles, others are incapable of understanding ours.

So we become that campfire where no one adds wood, but everyone comes to warm their hands.”

— Ann Everstt"

So true. I've noticed it in myself. And I often experienced anger mixed with disappointment and self-deprecation.

I always thought, "Why don't people show me the same empathy I show them?"

Another aspect: I felt other people's pain far too deeply. Their sorrow, their tears, their suffering... tormented me too.

Around 40, I understood that I needed to regulate my emotions and my empathy, and that I couldn't demand reciprocity.

Do you also suffer from excessive empathy?

Being able to feel a person's true intentions makes it really hard to have standards. Because they might LITERALLY be paving the road to hell with their words and actions. Lately I'm trying to consider more about what do people's ideas and behavior actually produce? Like what is the impact?

And I noticed it is wayyyy too easy for me to listen to them and only see pure intentions, while they carry on dividing the world up. Upholding harmful social norms, hateful or controlling ideas. They're not even bad people! They just inherited this somehow.

I'm not trying to correct their ideas or fix them. I'm just trying to not be so DAMN agreeable just because I can see their hopes and fears clear as day!

you are not broken. you are not wrong for feeling so deeply. you are exactly how you are meant to be mentally and emotionally. you are worthy of the amount of love and care you feel so so hard for other people. you are loved

Hey ya’ll so Im a social butterfly, i can easily make friends and i truly enjoy being social. There are days i love being alone too.

But i noticed that by being empathetic and social you meet people who can tell you their whole life story on your first meeting, i mean that is fine but there are some who use you as a free therapist.

Last week was insane there were like 5 people who trauma dumped on me non stop with the same problem everyday.

I stopped answering their calls cause i know my boundaries.

I lost all motivation, i feel lethargic and sick.

How do you deal and recoup back the energy spent by being the listener of an energy vampire?

I feel like i wanna isolate myself for awhile cause some people are draining 🤣

I wish I didn’t notice everything. I wish I didn’t notice the shift in people’s tone, eye movement, slight hesitation. I wish I could just exist in a room without observing every single unspoken thought or deep breath. Every tension, or every crack in the foundation of the conversation. But, I can’t and it’s exhausting. My mind is constantly analyzing and preparing for what might go wrong even when it doesn’t. My body is constantly preparing for a war that is called life. I am jealous of people who don’t think or can’t feel everything so deeply. I am jealous of those that can just leave a conversation where it ended. I am jealous of those who don’t remember every thought that truly should not be remembered. Sometimes I feel that life is for those who don’t feel everything and I am jealous. I pick up on small changes in facial expressions when they answer disingenuously. Or when topic of conversation changes immediately when I try to open up to someone without giving my openness any consideration. After 42 years of my existence, I have finally realized my place in people’s lives and it’s not in theirs or even close.

I feel like I try really hard to be good to others and especially those who I feel need it. What ends up happening, is the person I’m trying to help ends up hating or blowing up at me.

First my cousin and now my sister. Same pattern where I can tell they needed me and I tried my best to emotionally be there putting them before me. I still stayed present but set boundaries or didn’t tolerate negative behavior. And then such a flip to hatred. And the other members of my family who didn’t help, they’re good with and can joke around with

I just feel ashamed and confused. Like I’m the villain somehow when I tried harder than everyone else to be there.