Empaths are unique; they can put themselves in another person’s shoes. Allowing them to understand the emotions of that person.
One of the primary qualities of an empath is compassion. Psychologist Charles Figley has stated that too much compassion can lead to fatigue. It is known as Compassion fatigue.
Compassion fatigue can be dangerous, best to disable if it’s not managed. If you can’t detect compassion fatigue early, you may end up with burnout syndrome. Or even worse secondhand trauma.
Compassion Fatigue | What Are The Signs To Look Out For?
If you are emphatic and care too much about other people and their emotional pain, then you may suffer from it.
If you are an empath then its most likely you feel their pain and suffering, and their pain becomes your own.
Too much exposure to other people’s pain can cause compassion fatigue.
Symptoms Of Compassion Fatigue
- Emotional fatigue
- Feeling lonely
- Confused
- The urge to suppress emotions
Yet, there are many tools you can use to heal compassion fatigue and prevent it from happening again. Knowing the symptoms and causes are very helpful in understanding the root cause of it.
The first thing we know is to avoid the trap of other people’s emotions. The other one is to protect ourselves and keep a distance and regulate our mood.
Tools To Fight Compassion Fatigue
In this section, we will examine some of the tools we can use to cure compassion fatigue. They will be helpful if you have a job that requires you to be in contact with people.
The tools can also help if you are emphatic and suffer from the following;
- Intrusive thoughts
- Loss of energy
- Increased anxiety
- Negative emotions
- Apathy
Interaction With Friends
You can remove emotional burdens by exchanging opinions with friends. Which helps us face the issues.
Support From Family
Talking with our family is a great way to vent or even retreat from work/personal problems.
Leisure Activities
Take some time out by enjoying leisure activities such as sports or hobbies. Which give us time to ourselves.
Always take some time out from things that stress or emotionally burden you. Have some time for you, to love and care for your own being. You deserve the same care you hand out to others.
There are other tools, which is knowing when to disconnect and knowing how to manage from fatigue. It’s important to remember we should not stop being compassionate and become robots.
These tools are strategies to safeguard your well being.
Did you know that compassion fatigue can make you feel guilty? Because of fatigue, you think you have lost the ability to empathise. This is because of being too emphatic without knowing how to protect yourself
We hope that these tools will help you heal from compassion fatigue and help you with other problems also. Each of these is a recommendation you can put into practice; as a result, you should feel better.