Hello everyone,

It’s been a while now that I wish to express what I think about the “traits of an empath”.

I really need to clarify this,

because when new people will “discover” what the word Empath means as it happened to me, they will know that they are not alone and that the world of empathy and psychics doesn’t have strict rules or traits to follow. Like for everything, not everyone is the same and the common traits of an empath can be influenced by so many things of each person.

I discovered the word empath a few years ago after writing on google: “I can feel the energies of people just by walking in the street”.
After writing it, the research results popped up in lots of articles with 30 traits of an empath.
For those who don’t know what an empath is:
An empath is someone who can feel the emotions and the energies of other people just by staying in the presence of them, without talking, without even touching. They can feel people’s emotions as if they are their own.

This is a beautiful gift but can be very heavy to carry if you don’t learn how to manage it and how to protect yourself.

I will quickly resume the traits of an empath with a little bit of personal experience in each trait.

– They just know untold things, and they know when someone is lying, even if they pretend they don’t and you think you’ve fooled them. And I can tell you sometimes is really hard to pretend and inside is painful.

– When they are in public places (like shopping centers or restaurants) they can feel overwhelmed, lots of people with lots of different energies. Just being in a place full of strangers everyone with their emotions makes me often feel dizzy and unwell, sometimes I feel like there are invisible balls of energy that are being shot and they hit me and cause me to lose balance.

– Feeling other’s emotions and physical pain. Empaths are like sponges. If someone is depressed I can feel what he feels and is really hard to understand if it is my feeling or someone else’s. Even if someone close to me is feeling unwell I physically feel unwell too, and in those moments if I measure my temperature I’m feverish. Sometimes I call my relatives (which they live on the other side of the world, literally) because I don’t feel good, I feel something is wrong, and they tell me that one of them is sick, or that something not good happened.

– Sensitive to tv, movies, and real-life chronicles. Since empath feel the emotions of others as if they are their own, can be hard to watch violence on tv because they tend to go in symbiosis with the characters of the movies. This is a point where I recognize myself only in half: I don’t want to watch movies with raw violence against people, or just violence in the real world, but I do like horror movies, especially the ones with spirits, psychics, and good stories in general. I generally don’t like violent horror movies. Horror movies make me feel something different and strong, but I don’t feel that they are bad, maybe because I see that often the world can be such horrible itself, I am more scared of what human beings are capable of than I am of monsters, spirits or demons. Probably the fact that in reality, I can feel energies that are not from this world make me not to be scared of this kind of movies, because I tell you, a human can be often worst than any other nonhuman beings.

– Empaths are prone to illness and pain. If they don’t know how to handle all of the different energies and emotions that they are absorbing they can develop physical illnesses. Yes, this is so true to me if I’m not able to recharge myself and get clean energy I physically start to get different kinds of illnesses.

-Chronic fatigue. The fact that empaths absorb all of these energies makes them feel really tired. Yes, I often feel more tired than I should compare to what I do, because all these emotions drain me a lot, especially when the emotions I absorb are negatives.

– Addictive behaviors, for some empaths a way to escape from these feelings is the use of addictive substances. This is not my case, I’m not able to use drugs or to drink alcohol, these substances take off the control, and to manage all of these energies that coming to me, most of the time without invitation, I need to stay with myself. Also when I go to pubs or places where there are lots of people that drink I feel drunk even without drinking…I know sounds weird, but I promise is true. I like to feel safe in myself and I prefer to use other forms of entertainment.

– They love nature and animals. Going outside in nature recharges me, especially near water, and in the hot sun. If I eat animals that weren’t treated well or they were grown in factories, even without knowing it, I will find it hard to digest them, because I can feel their energy. So I always look for well-sourced animals or fresh fish. I did find it hard to fish myself and to accept to eat death, but once I’ve acknowledged my personal view on the circle of life I was able to enjoy meals without sadness or doubts. if you want to see my ex-vegan story here’s the link:

https://www.naturalmermaid.net/2017/03/08/ex-vegan-why-im-not-vegan-anymore/

-Need for solitude. Empaths love to recharge themself in private and quiet spaces.

-Rule breakers. They find it hard to follow rules. Yes, this is so mine, I become physically ill if I do a job or something that I don’t find interesting. I try to live my life doing things I love to do, I don’t strive for lots of money, I don’t see the point of destroying my health doing something I don’t like just for money. For me is already a lot to deal with all of these different energies all around.

-Sensitive to antique, vintage, and second hand. Empaths don’t usually buy second hand because they will feel the energies of the previous owner. This is true for someone, but I personally love to go to the second hand and vintage shops for this very fact. When I go I feel so many nice emotions and smells around me, is like I only feel the good things that are in the shop, I’m drawn only to them and I often feel I want to take them with me and I do. Also when I go to some historical places I like to stop and listen to all the emotions that come from the surrounding, or watching old paint and being able to smell and hear the scenes.
These weren’t all the traits that you can find online because I just wanted to write the ones close to me and especially the ones that I felt the need to clarify a little bit.

If you can relate with me with the slight differences from the common traits of an empath please write to me in the comment I would love to know it.

Thank you for reading.

XOXO

Claudia