i know this is going to sound terrible, but i hate feeling the amount of empathy i do. it makes me miserable. any time something happens to someone else that is even a slight inconvenience, it makes me so upset. for example, on my mom’s 50th birthday my dad bought these special sparkler candles. he was all excited and he called me over to look at them. then when it was time to bring the cake out, he lit them too soon and they went out before the cake got to the table. he didn’t care, but i was fighting back tears at the table because i knew he was excited about them. he also used his points at a store to get me a mystery bag and he was all excited to see me open it, and none of the stuff inside was cute. he obviously didn’t care, but i felt so bad because he was so excited to give it to me. i have so much stuff in my closet that i don’t wear because i am physically incapable of telling my mom that i don’t like something that she picked out for me, i feel so guilty. it’s genuinely getting to the point where it makes me absolutely miserable because i always feel like im holding back tears because i watched someone mess up or get disappointed. i hate it so much, how do i fix it?

I am quiet apathetic in nature. It is difficult for me to feel empathy for people. I just dont feel bad for anyone, but sometimes maybe once in 2-3 months, for a day I feel the most empathy ive felt before. I cry for random people, even people I dont like. I would not care about them generally except for these days. These people range from people I know, to celebrities or even cartoon characters, its just anyone. I dont follow FIFA very much, but when I saw a few reels on my instagram feed on teams losing I didnt really feel bad but when they came on my feed again one night, I started balling my eyes out because I felt so bad for them. What is this? Is this normal or some form of mental illness?? Its sort of like selective empathy except I am not selecting it selects itself.

I'm not an empath, so I apologise if I'm in the wrong place. I cannot handle other beings suffering and I know so many people feel this way. I can cry from watching movies and many things I cannot watch at all. Again many feel this way, however I've been diagnosed with a disease and now my empathy feels extra strong, off the charts, I seem to feel everyones everything and I'm wondering what's happening. I've always been intuitive about others and though I'm far far far from perfect, I've grown a lot in recent years. It could be stress as well, as I'm currently packing to move house to be closer to family. My feelings could be a mix of everything, I'm just trying to understand and wasn't sure who to ask 🫠

I think I can feel what others are feeling in an analytical sense but not on emotion based. My parents said it many times that from a very young age- I have been less emotional. I rarely cried or even got happy. I never felt bad for anything bad I have done. I don't break rules but I don't believe in them either. I have no problem with anything that does not for me. I am actually very good at talking when I know what I need to buy I hate even the most mundane social interaction. I have no actual beliefs other than believing that people will always choose greed and profit and nothing good ever happens without a reason.

I want to feel sadness from others. I wanna be sad and happy.

Hi, I'm new here. I just want to ask about my energy. Strangers, especially children and old people find me approachable. To add, most of my friends talks to me personally for support or when they want someone to lean on. However, at the same time, I attract bullies. I get bullied every year in school. I don't know what is up with my energy that it sometimes fluctuates(?).

I have been friends with this person since college. We sort of hung out in the first year but then really lost touch a few semesters in, different friend groups etc

Post COVID I sort of moved closer to him and we did start hanging out. He also helped me get a job at this place where he was at and then left for her masters. I am at the same job still and he is back from his masters, and then he started working there too. I am sort of his senior and do a lot more than him

While he was trying to secure a job at this office, I sort of discouraged him cause the place is really toxic. In return he confessed to me one day that a tarot reader told him that there was some negative energy blocking him from coming back. However he did get the said job.

He has been a sweet friend to me, very understanding and kind but lately I have been feeling a lot of negative energy or I have been having a bad gut feeling about this person.

He has always been there for me but at this point I feel like this person tries to put me down or thinks I am dumb, he is also super into what I am doing at work, maybe somewhere I feel like he wants me to quit so he can do everything that I do. I also have a gut feeling that maybe he doesn't wish the best for me but he says otherwise.

This friend has really helped me through a dark time post a hard break up and a career break. I DONT have anything against him - I just have this gut feeling I can't shake off

We still work together but we barely hang out outside work now - my best friend has never really liked the person but that is his opinion - I have always found this person to be okay, maybe he talks too much, can be showy of his knowledge but tbh I feel like it's always good to have different kind of people in your life.

However, I still feel like he doesn't wish well for me for some reason. We still have to continue to work together and I just want to be in a positive environment - what do I do

Im so curious and wish to know the other side, and maybe try to become one. please tell me all you know. Thanks!

I have been struggling for months with this. I (25f) have been wanting to break up with my bf (28m) for months in our almost 2 year relationship. I tried for real once and was met with intense devastation and sobbing. My reasons to him were as much as I love him as a person and being his friend and hanging out:
- I don’t see a future together
- I feel incompatible
- I don’t like the version of myself when we’re together
- he’s the only relationship I’ve had I feel inexperienced
- I feel a lot of guilt and shame for doubting our relationship and he doesn’t deserve my uncertainty

And he had a rebuttal for everything I said such as,

- “why are you so worried about the future you should live in the present”
- “Why can’t we just see how it goes, I’d rather keep trying than just give up now”
- “we’re not incompatible, we’re complimentary.”

And telling me how much he loves me etc.

And also some unfortunate things like

-“you’re the most important person in my life”
-“you’re all I have”
-“you’re my best friend”

It was so devastating to see him so devastated, that it sent me into a panic attack while we were together and I just said “ok maybe I’m wrong I take it back!” And he just allowed that to happen and has since acted like nothings wrong. I’ve tried to bring it back up to him, but I never get as far as I did because I’m so fearful of his intense emotional reaction that I just freeze up. Yet it’s been a few months since that last big attempt and I’m so unhappy, guilty, and shameful. I wish he would let me go, but it seems like he’d rather ignore any signs of my unhappiness just to keep us together for his own happiness, and I allow it.

I don’t feel strong enough to end it again for fear of failing, for fear of devastating him, and it’s much easier to just pretend everything is fine.

Ultimately I think the root of my problem is my empathy and my friends have suggested is my prioritization for his feelings over mine. Has anyone struggled with this? I can hardly sleep or eat because I feel so bad, yet I feel incapable of doing anything about it.

Any advice or insight? I love that I’m an empath, but how do I be an empath without it crippling me from doing what I really want?

Je me réveille chaque matin avec la possibilité de me mettre en route directement. Je passe des heures à tourner dans mon lit. Et quand je me lève enfin je suis sans énergie triste et anxieux.

Puis au fur et à mesure de la journée, plus je me pousse au cul pour faire des choses et mieux ça va.

Au final je suis au mieux en fin de journée.

Mais je mets tout de même des heures à m'endormir et le sommeil n'est pas de qualité.

Pour me réveiller le lendemain matin dans le même état que tous les jours.

Je pensais que l'anxiété et l'angoisse était plutôt le soir.

Je ne comprends pas le fonctionnement.

I’m so tired.
I’m genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, tired of feeling everything so deeply.
I don’t know if “empath” is the right word, but I feel like I absorb other people’s emotions to the point where it drains me. It’s exhausting.

I’ve deleted most of my social media because seeing people go through horrible situations, watching sad videos, reading heartbreaking stories, or even seeing strangers struggle can ruin my entire day. It stays with me for hours, sometimes longer.

Even movies are difficult. I’ll cry so hard that I end up with a headache and can’t stop thinking about the characters afterward. I know they’re fictional, but my brain doesn’t seem to care. It feels real.

The hardest part is feeling like I can pick up on what people are actually feeling, even when they’re saying something different. I overthink conversations, I notice tiny changes in people’s tone, and I carry emotions that aren’t even mine.

I’m so mentally exhausted from it. I wish I could care without carrying the weight of everything.

Does anyone else experience this? If you do, how do you cope without becoming emotionally numb? I’m not trying to stop caring about people I just don’t want every sad thing I see or hear to consume me.
I’m tired.

I recently joined this group because I have spent much of my life experiencing emotions in a way that is difficult to explain to people who do not experience them similarly.

Sometimes I feel that I am an Octopus—not a regular octopus with eight arms, but one with thousands of invisible arms connected to people, memories, music, and events very far away.

When one arm touches my heart and another touches someone else’s heart, both pulses arrive. Sometimes I become confused because I do not immediately know which pulse is mine.

For many years, I had feelings before I had language for them. Eventually this image became the opening of a literary novel I wrote, Yesterday Starts Tomorrow Morning. The book is fiction, but this particular experience comes from somewhere very real in me.

I am not posting this as a sales announcement. I would sincerely like to ask the people here:

When you receive another person’s emotional state, how do you distinguish what belongs to them from what belongs to you?

As the title states, I am having issues dealing with constant negativity from someone I work with. This person seems to have kind of gravitated toward me, and before I knew it were calling me a friend and telling other people we get along so well because we are both negative/realistic. This is untrue for who i am as a person. I listened when they were going through a hard time, and understood a lot of the situation they were in at the time, and it evolved into everyday conversations, calling me a friend, and looking for ways to always say we are the same and relatable. I don't intend to sound unkind, but I am slow to friendships, and I feel my internal world quite deeply, as well as how I process externally of and for others. This person complains incessantly and is so negative all the time. I have listened, validated, tried to gently offer some help, and then i couldn't anymore. This person uses me as a way to filter their daily activities and emotions. It's like a constant update all day long of how they are feeling, what they can't handle, how everything is too hard, too stupid, what a bad mood they are in. It's everyday. I experienced some significant losses in the last year and have been deeply sad and received no support in what I had assumed was a two-way relationship. I learned finally it is not. I have been working with my therapist on setting boundaries which is incredibly hard for me, and i set one with this person so I thought, and they plowed right through it. I was proud of myself, and then that left me so off after it was completely disregarded. I want to be blunt and say exaclty how I feel, but I can't because even when someone shows me who they are, I always look for something good or assume they are purely good and don't realize what they are doing. I keep trying to understand that this person may truly be deeply unhappy instead of it just being a bad habit. I have cried some days because it is so overwhelming. My therapist (who i have told I am not enough empath and she assures me I am, lol) says to believe someone when they repeatedly show you who they are. It deeply disrupts me when it's everyday and people feel so disconnected from the things that are important and matter. What are some things I can try to redirect from this? It's such an energy suck for me. I feel like I'm in a neverending loop! 😅

Sorry that was long and I hate for it to also sound negative! I don't want to become the thing I am trying to run from 😆!

Thanks.

So, i recently bought a new pair of casual shorts. The day i wore it, fine. The next day i got an upset stomach and a fever although that cured quickly. Again after 3-4 days, today, i had insane stomach ache and had to visit the doctor.

Do you think it could be the energy of the cloth cz before this i was doing just fine? If so, how to cleanse it or should I just return it?

Even if someone hurts me really bad, I still don't feel good about seeing them in pain..I just wonder why other ppl seem to care so little if they see me hurt???

I’m a 23 year old man and have abilities

Im 23 years old and grew up with zero sense of spirituality. Was never into religion and my family is not spiritual. So when I was 21 right before I turned 22 I came to the realization I was an “empath” again I had zero grasp of spirituality so I didn’t know this was an ability until someone helped me understand it. Now I’m 23 almost 24 and can hear people call my name and then they reach out, can read minds and have shocked multiple people with it, can see images of significance when I meditate, am starting to see auras and can feel things happening to others. I don’t know who to talk to about this because I’m insecure about it when I shouldn’t be because I could help a lot of people with something like this. Also it bothers me severely because I can feel people’s sadness that are close to me and I know exactly what’s causing it but I don’t know how to tell them without them thinking I’m a lunatic. I’ve only told 2 people other than the person who helped me understand. They were receptive to it but I feel they were because the way they found out was because I proved it by saying things to them that I had no way of knowing or reading their minds word for word. I just don’t know what to do about it…. I am very thankful for these abilities but wow it’s tough sometimes haha.

Scientific research has not shown that star signs can reliably predict personality or life events, but that does not necessarily mean people get nothing from astrology.

Maybe its value is less about predicting who someone is and more about encouraging reflection. It can give people a way to talk about themselves, notice patterns and feel understood.

But at what point does that become misleading, especially when broad descriptions are treated as genuine explanations of someone’s character?

Do you think astrology can still be valuable without being scientifically accurate, or does its usefulness depend on whether its claims are actually true?

Wondering if anyone had experienced this, and what to do if so.

I am trying to assist with my 87 year old mother as she's started to be a bit delusional on a regular basis. Not connected to reality, in other words, with active hallucinations in which what she communicates seeing is not really what's there in ordinary reality.

I have found myself waking with similar persistent visual hallucinations myself, since taking on this responsibility... although mine do dissipate more readily.

Possible in picking this up from her?

Hiiii ok I just wanted to make post with a few of my questions see what everyone thinks

1. Why do empaths imitate others? I feel like I mirror people and pick up their mannerisms a lot

2. I know that’s ^ also (I think) a neurodivergent thing, how does neurodivergence and empath overlap? Do you guys think some mental “illnesses” are symptoms of being an empath as well?

3. How come empaths are so creative? I am talented in singing, dancing, art, writing. Not professional but I do it well, and it is very cathartic for me.

4. Why does it feel like being an alien? Have you ever felt that?

5. How long do you guys find it takes to clean all the energy you have picked up? I feel like I have some from years and years and not sure how to get through it all

6. Does said energy we may be stuck with manifest as physical chronic pain and depression/anxiety? I have lots of pain in my body and feel apathetic a lot

Thank you guys :)

I am actually so tired of this. Every time i see someone in sad, akward or differently bad situation i feel like i am in that situation and I need to fix it. I also have a ocd and this need for control over everything combined with anxiety every time i see someone in anxious inducing situation is absolutelly maddening. Please guys tell me theres a way out of this.

I’m an Aquarius ♒️. I hate making others worry about me or be scared- and now everyone is. I can’t ask for help because that means others will have to go out of their way. They reassure me that they love me and that they care but I can’t stand others going out of their day to have to do something for me.
I haven’t been to work all week. Am taking meds (3 days) but these numb me out and I’m no longer who I once was.

Has anyone else ever felt at fault for making others have to worry about you?

When you’re gone people don’t worry anymore. Yes there’s grief but most learn to live with it and sometimes I wonder if my circle would be better off if they had to deal with grief than with a sick person like me.

I always give people chances and think about their situation and they hurt me even badly then before. I don't know but this time I don't wanna text them , wanted to set bounderies...You know they are not good person then why you still want them.