Do you want to learn how to maintain your mental health as an empath? In this article, you’ll discover the best mental health hacks to thrive as an empath.
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Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Empaths often find themselves becoming overwhelmed and mentally exhausted due to the influx of emotions constantly surrounding them.
Others’ negative feelings can have a drastic effect on highly sensitive people. Although sometimes difficult to navigate, these tips and techniques will help you maintain positive mental health as an empath.
Here’s What You’ll Discover:
What Does It Mean To Be An Empath?
Many highly sensitive people are oftentimes also highly empathic. But what does it actually mean to be an empath?
You can either identify or be diagnosed with being an empath. As written by Jessica Greiner in her book “Empath,” this type of person will experience the pain, anxiety, and distress around them. This can also include animals and instances in nature as well.
Characteristics of being an empath go past the concept of merely feeling emotions deeper than non-sensitive people. If you are an empath you may find yourself being in touch with your intuition, seeing past deception, and listening compassionately for anyone speaking.
Empaths are often very artistic, creative, and free-spirited. Not only do they feel the emotions of people they care about, but they also reflect the emotions and energy of those around them. Consistently being bombarded with emotions would take a toll on anybody who was highly sensitive. This is why empaths must be successful in maintaining positive mental health.
Here are some practical ways to achieve this:
#1 Check-In With Yourself To Maintain Mental Health
To begin getting back to a healthy positive mindset, you first need to create one to maintain. This is where the empath in question would check in with themselves and start asking questions about their true state of mind.
Some topics you can start thinking about include how you are feeling in this moment and noticeable causal factors for your state of mind. Are you currently mirroring what you see around you, or are you actually feeling these negative emotions personally?
This isn’t an interrogation, this is reflecting in its truest form. You maintain your mental health with actions, so what have you done for yourself this week? Have you noticed negative feelings arriving after being around certain people in your life?
In this tip, we highly recommend you try your best not to judge your answers or try to sugar coat them. This is to help preserve your mental health, so the best way through this tip is, to be honest.
#2 Create Physical Space For A While
As difficult as it may be to admit, the people you keep around you on a daily basis can be contributing to a decline in your mental health. Maybe it’s a close friend that likes to vent to you or someone who has just been especially stressed or anxious.
After a week or perhaps months of being there for that person and being around that energy, empaths can expect to feel emotionally burnt out. In turn, this leaves no room for working on and supporting their own mental health. Does this mean you should kick these people out of your life for good?
If you truly care for and feel net positive energy for them, then of course not. However, you may benefit from taking some healthy space for just you to be alone with your own emotions.
Give yourself time to just be with no one’s emotions but yours and find peace within them.
Being away will prevent you from becoming resentful towards that person. It may also give them the time to process their own emotions and work on their own mental health. Not only will your relationship be protected, but you will have successfully taken healthy steps for maintaining your mental state.
#3 Empaths Need Fresh Air
These days it is common knowledge exercising releases endorphins that are supposed to give you more energy and help you feel happier. But you don’t necessarily have to exercise if you are unable to. This doesn’t work for everybody and can be mentally and physically exhausting for empaths.
Admittedly, taking a walk by yourself and taking in some fresh air can really connect you directly to the world around you. Empaths tend to be sensitive people who take this opportunity to get more connected to your spirituality if any.
In order to maintain mental health, take a moment every once in a while to ground yourself. Practice breathing techniques in a nearby park, and the average empath will feel like they’re breathing in the trees directly.
Empaths can use this opportunity to feel the life around them in nature and feel emotions like gratitude and belonging coming from themselves. You can also choose to meditate in this fresh air to continue elevating your mental health.
#4 Make The Time To Prioritize Your Mental Health
Sometimes as empaths and highly sensitive people, we tend to put others’ needs above our own. If you allow this to continue for long periods of time, you won’t know what too much is until you find yourself mentally exhausted. Notice that to best maintain mental health, now is the time to start filling up your cup first.
Improve mental health habits as an empath starting with what you do in your free time. Prioritize your self-care by reading that book you have been meaning to read and tell your friends you are out of commission for the night.
Essentially, you should take at least one night off from being everyone’s rock in exchange for doing something that makes you happy. It can actually be anything and does not have to take much time. Do a ten-minute face mask and watch your favorite comfort tv show. You deserve it!
Recognize and accept that caring for yourself does not have to come at a cost for others. As an empath, you know you have so much love to give. However maintaining a good mental state, will require you to pour that love into yourself first.
#5 Find A Way To Release
You don’t necessarily have to vent onto a loved one in order to release the buildup of emotions. Most importantly, you should have a good source of expressing your emotions. This will perpetuate the maintenance of your mental health as an empath.
What activities improve mental health by encouraging you to release? Some common ones not already mentioned include going to see a licensed therapist and journaling what you feel. Empaths may also like doodling, painting, or sketching if they are artistically inclined.
For instance, you may want to try the Creative Thinking Journal. Here, you’ll receive fun, creative challenges designed to increase your creativity.
Improving your mental wellbeing is all about preventing the feeling of being overwhelmed. It is knowing your threshold for what you can or should take in. Sometimes empaths can’t help but want to relate to others and feel what they feel.
Despite how much you may want to help the people in your environment, you cant aid the situation by also feeling depressed for them. You must find a way to release before it can get too much. With these techniques in practice, you remain successfully maintaining your mental health as an empath.
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