How to take charge of your sensitivities and prevent empathy overload (so you can serve more clients)

Have you ever wondered how you can make your sensitive nature more a superpower and prevent yourself from becoming lost in empathy overload?

For the longest time I found myself in a constant battle with my sensitivities.  Wondering what was wrong with me, why can’t I just get on with it?

I would see a client or two and then be wiped out for days.  Sometimes I would wake up in the morning still spinning about what had occurred in session.

There were many days when I felt so broken with all this emotion inside of me.  Sometimes I found myself caring about others far more than they seemed to care about themselves.  It felt so draining.

Empathy Overload

The more I connected with other people’s emotions the less I was able to regulate myself.

I became an emotional sponge.  No matter where I went or what I was doing I would feel the emotions and energy all around me.  It became unbearable.

My business began to suffer.  I couldn’t stay consistent.  So much of my time and energy was being spent just trying to get back to a balanced me.

I realized this wasn’t working.  Meeting my business goals felt impossible. .

That constant state of empathy overload had to go.  I needed to let go of having to fix it all and focus on becoming stronger.

No More Emotional Sponge

One of the first things I did to stop the empathy overwhelm was stop listening or reading any kind of news.  I wanted to stay informed but not at the expense of my wellbeing.

Right away I started to feel like I had more space around me.

Another thing I looked at was my overall information consumption vs how much action I was taking daily.  I made the decision that action was far more important to me daily.

But it couldn’t just be any old action.  It had to be action that was specifically aligned to my needs, wants and desires.

In order to get there, I had to really know myself well.

Slowing Down

As I started to get to know myself better I became aware of the places where the energy of desperation was seeping into my business.

The idea of not having enough time, or enough money, or enough clients.  The more I focused on those things the more elusive it felt.

To combat that energy, I started to slow down.

It felt quite counterintuitive at the time, but I had the right supports in place to work through by really slowing down.

I don’t think I would have been able to make this change without someone holding my hand and cheering me on.

If you liked this article you might also like Empaths in Business:  How to thrive as a sensitive entrepreneur without overwhelm and burnout