Stop Taking in the Emotional Energy of Others: The Journey From Sponge to Rock

I knew early on I was a sponge.

I absorbed the emotional states of others until I felt the heaviness of their emotions in my own heart. I soaked in the pain and suffering of other people as if it was my own. Taking in peoples’ emotional energy was my way of trying to understand, relate, and help. This was how I empathized. I…