Real Feels: When You’re an Empath, You Have All the Feels

There are many empaths out there and you know them. You probably find yourself revealing things you wouldn’t normally divulge to these very empaths. If you know me and my heart, you’ll know that I am one but this is a fairly recent thing I’ve come to realize about myself. Here’s a handy article to explain what an empath is and a quote from it:

Being an empath is when you are affected by other people’s energies, and have an innate ability to intuitively feel and perceive others.  Your life is unconsciously influenced by others’ desires, wishes, thoughts, and moods.  Being an empath is much more than being highly sensitive and it’s not just limited to emotions.  Empaths can perceive physical sensitivities and spiritual urges, as well as just knowing the motivations and intentions of other people.

The thing about us empaths is we don’t recognize what’s happening right away. We feel like there’s something wrong with us, like we feel more than others most of the time and question why people don’t understand what we feel or how much we experience within ourselves.

You may think this all sounds a little woo-woo but whether you believe in the mystical forces in the universe or not, it’s of no consequence. As an empath, I will always feel more than you can know (unless you are an empath yourself) but it’s not just that. It’s that I sense other’s feelings and intentions so deeply that I end up experiencing them myself, even for fictional characters in movies and books. My husband has always thought my ability for suspension of disbelief was the reason for all my feels and he’s not wrong, but the other side of it is that I’m just a sensitive person.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

For example, whenever I go to a sporting event which isn’t often I always get choked up after the National Anthem. I’m not overly patriotic, what it is is the sheer number of people expressing themselves as one, and I can sense in my core their pride and emotion all at once. I didn’t think about this reaction until the last football game I attended. I was pretty much balling while everyone was cheering. But it wasn’t out of sadness or fear or even happiness, it was every person’s emotions exploding within my 5 foot 4 inch body.

Now that I know what that was about, it’s easier to understand and cope with. Being an empath also explains other traits and habits that I hadn’t recognized as being connected. Apparently, empaths are vivid/lucid dreamers. This is a trait I share but up until now I never put much thought past how my dreams tell me about my life and what I’m going through at that moment. And storytelling is also a part of me being an empath due to my inquisitive nature and animated imagination.

What I’ve learned since accepting this part of me is to channel all the feels whether they are mine or not. Also that I need to continue expressing myself through writing, and balance working with people, animals or nature. While writing is mostly a solitary endeavor, I’ve found that spending all my time writing alone leaves a hole in my heart. Past experience tells me that teaching and caretaking are the roles I excel at. Teaching writing would balance out my needs with my wants. But then there’s my desire to spread stories and share them with others. Selling books comes to mind. This is something I do for Image Comics a couple times a year, working at conventions to promote their books. All this hindsight is bringing to mind who I come from.

You know how people say you become your parents? Well my dad is a salesman who excels at telling engaging stories, and my mom is a highly creative person, an editor and an executive admin, which means she takes care of a group of people’s needs. They are both fairly sensitive people too. As their offspring, I tend to embody similar personality traits and roles. After being raised by them and through my own educational, corporate, freelance and volunteer experiences, I think I’ve fully realized how these traits have guided my career path as a lead writer and editor.

OK, so that’s probably enough epiphanies for one post. I hear this happens a lot when one is unemployed. On that note, if you know of any people out there looking for a collaborative writer, editor, teacher, caretaker, book seller, etc., I’m looking for paid work that’s not only rewarding monetarily but in my heart of hearts as well (I’m seeking remote work and/or employment in the Washington D.C. Metro area-end shameless plug).

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Thanks for reading! I truly hope you got something out of it. Otherwise this is just a therapeutic post which is good enough for me. 🙂