The more people an empath interacts within the day to day, the less space they have to deal with their own emotions. That leaves you tired, worn out, and almost always exhausted. Sleep is hardly a factor for this kind of weariness. For example, let’s say you’ve been keeping a journal: each time you feel yourself absorb an emotion you write it down.

I Don’t Want to Be an Empath Anymore: How to Reclaim Your Power Over Emotional Overload, Maintain Boundaries, and Live Your Best LifeIf you talk to the most experienced of empaths, they’ll tell you that a great way to avoid emotional fatigue and contagion is to simply imagine a shield. Their emotions bleed into your consciousness, and before long you have no space for your own. Or you’re just so confused you can’t remember which ones are yours in the first place.

When people seek you out specifically for your comfort and help, they are pulling it from you and demanding it. Or, more likely, you get fed up with the job — too bored and too tired — and move on to something else, in the hopes it’ll be better at the next place. When you’re by yourself, you pull out your journal and start singling out each emotion. After you think about and remember each one, you completely let it go. Imagine each emotion flowing down a river, washed away by the rain, or blowing away in a warm breeze. And once it’s gone, it’s really gone. For good.Having a deep understanding of people’s emotions, to the point of feeling them as if they were your own, tends to create compassion. Being an empath myself, I have often wondered if there’s anything that can be done about all the downsides. Because, to be honest, sometimes I really do hate it. At that point, it becomes so much easier to manage the constant flow of emotions that bombard your senses day in and day out as an empath. It’s so easy to be overtaxed as an empath. One person you encounter in your day could change your mood entirely and completely sap you of all your energy reserves. And if your day isn’t over, it can happen again. When you feel like you have nothing left.

Kathryn L. Robyn, healer, artist, author of Spiritual Housecleaning, and coauthor of The Emotional House“Ora North is the wise, witchy aunt I never had, who has arrived on the scene just when this heartbroken world needs her most. How I wish I could’ve read this bracing tonic of a book when I was sixteen, and so overwhelmed by confusing, painful emotions that all I could do was bury them. Ora reassures us in her straight-talking way that it’s never too late to witness and integrate our dark, scary feelings—and regain our equilibrium. Goddess bless her for doing this groundbreaking work, and for writing this compelling, enlightening book to empower sensitive souls like me!” Usually, I’m already overwhelmed and at capacity when I “ignore”. The last thing I want to do is open that connection up even more.

As an empath, you bring their pain into your body and feel it intimately. It’s hard to shut off, and impossible to turn off completely.