If you are an empath, life is a quiet battlefield most people will never notice. You feel everything - joy, pain, fear, anger - from the world around you, sometimes even before it touches anyone else. Strangers unload their trauma on you; friends and family expect your energy to heal them; even casual interactions can leave you emotionally depleted. Your mind and heart become a repository for other people’s heaviness, and by the end of the day, you feel sick, used, and invisible in your own life. But absorbing the world’s energy does not mean you must sacrifice yourself. You can create a shield. You can protect your heart and mind without turning cold or detached.
