Most Empaths do not handle stress well. Fact!

Why?

For one thing, being overly sensitive in this insensitive world plays a big part. Our Empathic antenna is always on high alert as we navigate our way through life, picking up all sorts of pained emotions and stresses as well as dealing with our own stress.

As Empaths, our emotional senses are generally heightened, which can mean we just don’t handle any other excess stress. And it certainly doesn’t help that so much in this world seems to be designed to cause worry in one way or another. For example: the cost of living, excess traffic, career misery, and, for us Empaths, over feeling everything.

But one major issue, for an Empath, is the energy we project when feeling stressed. It can have a rebound effect, which, in the long run, can cause many more issues. We will look at how this works shortly. But first, why does an Empath so quickly get hooked by anything that triggers stress?

Addictions

Did you know that stress can become very addictive? Which may seem rather odd. I mean, why would any of us get addicted to something that makes us feel so bad?

I have written in-depth about negativity and stress addictions in my book: Become a Super-Empowered Empath, but not in too many blog posts.

But as it is so problematic, I thought it was a good idea to address the subject again. We can never have enough reminders of how stress keeps us from living within our own true blissful happiness.

One thing I have discussed many, many times on my blog, over the years, is how our stress levels are massively activated by online media and the news.

Those who control the media know that people have a natural draw towards negativity, which can draw us further into their sites.

Now, you may wonder why would they push something on to people that is clearly not good for our health.

One word.

Money.

The more hits they get on their sites, the more money they earn. Simple.

And, technically, they are doing nothing illegal. Just immoral. Not only are their stories sensationalized for dramatic purposes, but much of what we are shown is designed to press our stress buttons.

Freedom to Choose

We have the freedom to choose whether we pore over any social media site we want, but once there, it is very easy for us to become drawn in.

So, take for example, you flick on the YouTube channel, wanting to look for information on certain vitamins. In the side bar, your eyes are drawn to videos that either anger you, make you feel insecure or just generally all-over bad. You think it’s your natural curiosity, drawing you in, and making you click on the video, but really it is your negativity bias.

Negativity bias is our tendency to focus more on the negative rather than the positive, such as events, information, or emotions. It is a human trait. Not just an Empath thing.

I personally love YouTube. It has got some great information shared by knowledgeable creators. I adore learning new things, and that’s what makes YouTube so enjoyable for me. However, it can also make me feel yuk.

Although I am aware of when I’m being lured in to places where I don’t belong (videos that make me feel bad), that doesn’t mean I don’t get reeled in. And once I’ve been hooked, it is difficult for me to get the hook out.

Before the age of the internet, we had other things that played on our emotions or on our insecurities. Like glossy magazines making teenagers feel they are not thin enough, pretty enough, or not quite fashionable enough. For older people, the newspapers or the news bulletins fed their emotions with fears of disease, recessions or wars.

But we didn’t have 24/7 access like we do now. Back then, we’d have had a short hit of anxiety, when we watched the news or flicked through a magazine, but then we’d get back on with our day.

Now there’s no getting away.

When I see groups of kids, walking to school, more often than not, they’re gazing down at their mobile phones. They’re not taking any notice of their environment, and none of them appear to talk to each other. I can only imagine what they’re viewing, but I expect it will be contributing to their insecurities. (Hardly surprising that we have so much depression within the younger generations these days.)

Anyway, getting back to the negativity bias, and how it triggers our stress levels.

When we experience stress, or any type of negativity, it gives the body a rush of the hormones, cortisol and adrenaline.

These two hormones can be addictive. And they are a reason many people seem to seek out traumas or problems, to fuel the brain with a hit of some of its favorite hormones.

We read a lot about becoming addicted to dopamine, the pleasure hormone, but we don’t see much about addictions to the stress hormones.

But they happen. And can cause chaos within the body.

In fact, here’s a list of some illnesses caused by unmanaged stress:

• Stomach ulcers
• Weakened immune system (leading to more colds, flu, etc.)
• IBS
• Autoimmune conditions
• Digestive problems
• Depression and anxiety
• Hormonal issues (especially evident in an Empath around menopause)
• Cancers
• Heart disease
• Chronic pain (migraine, back pain, etc.)

These issues can all come about because we either have had too much stress, or because we do not manage stress well. So, as you can imagine, the last thing we want is for our brain to become addicted to the stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline.

When the brain or body becomes addicted to stress, it is much harder to recognize than with other addictions, like alcohol. But if not addressed, this dependence becomes the pathway to an unhappy life.

The Suffering of People

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day, on the subject, who has suffered depression on and off for many years. He spends a lot of time on the internet. Especially on news sites, such as the MailOnline and YouTube. I asked him if he’d noticed, when online, whether the articles or videos, he was being shown, were triggering to him. He was like,’ yeah, all the time.’ But he hadn’t realized how it was being done on purpose to keep him going from article to article or video to video. He knew how bad he felt after, mostly angry, but thought it was his lack of self-control that kept him poring over the sites.

To let you know a little about my friend: he is emotionally and physically sensitive (feels a lot of anger, suffers digestive issues, experiences allergies, and does not handle stress.), but he isn’t an Empath. He hadn’t connected the dots that the content he was being shown wasn’t happening out of chance. It was orchestrated by data collection, to activate his negativity bias. Which, in turn, was spiking his stress hormones, adding fuel for his depression and anger.

Sadly, my friend is not the type of person who will take steps to rebalance if it involves having to make changes to his diet, and he doesn’t want to stop smoking, or take up exercise. Instead, he has opted to trust his doctor, and go down the anti-depressant route, even though they haven’t resolved anything, and he will swallow down indigestion tablets after every meal, to avoid indigestion, because that is what his doctor recommended. He spends much of his time living within his own regrets. Thinking his life is making him unhappy, rather than his unhappiness being contributed to by his lifestyle choices, and stress. And, even more sadly, because of the way he feels, he thinks of himself as a failure.

Over the years, I’ve tried to make him aware of the harm his lifestyle has on his body and mind, as well as the damage being caused by online media, but he is not being told this by his doctor. I appreciate that any changes have to be made by him, for him, when he is ready. He is on his own journey. And that is something I have to respect. But it makes me so sad and frustrated to see him suffer.

My friend is not a one-off. He and millions of people across the Western world are having the same experience. We are not being given the truth about the real cause of our mental and physical health problems. Instead, we are encouraged to take a pill, and if that pill doesn’t work, take another, and then another. We might be told to avoid stress, but how is that possible when people don’t realize their stress is being purposely ignited?

Empaths and Stress

So, to get back to how Empaths develop a stress hormone addiction, without realizing, it’s because we don’t always know when our hormones are activated or by what.

I know exactly how tricky addictions are, especially within the brain. It is not until we give something up for a period of time that we see just how our choices and thoughts were governed. Basically, addictions are what drive us towards something that is not good for us. Such as stress.

A stress addiction can be at work without us even leaving our home or coming into contact with others. When not around people, or not viewing material that is triggering, stress hormones can be activated through negative repetitive thoughts.

Thoughts feed emotions. Emotions feed thoughts. Our brain might trick us to staying focused on our dark thoughts because they fuel our stress hormones.

As discussed in many past posts, we have a seventeen second window before thoughts take over, and we become hostage within our own mind. One way to avoid this cycle is through using a method of distraction. I have written an in-depth post on the subject.

The Rebound Effect

There is a saying that our outside world is a reflection of our inside world. If we’re happy within, the world outside looks bright. The reverse is also true. If we feel emotionally troubled, we will see more trouble outside of us. When anything is repetitively triggering, in a negative way, we will see more and more negativity and experience more stress.

We will also emit more negative energy.

We are all effectively batteries that can be charged or drained. And our energy can be fuel for others. (Just think of energy vampires.)

The more negatively stimulated we are, through stress, the more negative energy we produce and give off. Which can then have a rebound effect through karmic return. What we give out, we receive back.

Which means, not only are we contributing to lowering the energy of our planet, we are also refeeding ourselves with negative energy. AKA, the rebound stress effect.

The Role of an Empath

As mentioned in the past, it is my belief that Empaths are not here by chance.

We have a job to do. Evolve, raise our vibration and send out a shiny healing love energy into the world. But we cannot do that until we heal ourselves.

If we are continuously kept angry, stressed or depressed, we cannot raise our vibration. We then stay trapped within a low frequency.

Also, because Empaths feel other people’s energy so powerfully, when we take on other people’s pained emotions, or the dark energy activated by fearmongering, and, instead of working to clear it, we bank it as our own, it prevents us from entering the frequency of love.

However, when we bask in the positive energy of the world, through such simple things as being out in nature, gazing over brightly coloured crystals or beautiful flowers, that lift us up inside, our vibration is raised, and we can then emit this powerful energy out.

This is why it is so important for anyone who can work with energy, Empath or not, to keep working on ourselves to become stronger and healthier in body, mind and spirit, which will help counterbalance the dark energy, and, at the same time, prevent the rebound stress effect.

Most Empaths become aware that we are responsible for ourselves. We have to make the changes. No one else can do it. This life is a DIY job.

That is not to say we cannot allow anyone to help. Everyone needs guidance and knowledge from others. And there will always be someone or something willing to share it. But we all have to take the first step. Be ready and willing.

Becoming happy and healthy usually always involves making lifestyle adjustments, either by pushing ourselves to do certain things, such as taking steps to get fitter, or by giving something up that is doing us harm.

Interestingly, it is said, that what we give up produces the biggest results in life transformations, rather than what we add. Which makes sense. When we eliminate, from our life, anything that keeps us physically or mentally impaired, our energy will increase, and we’ll be more inclined to do what reaps additional health benefits. (I can vouch for this.)

Stay Away from Stress

So, yes, something that has and will always serve us, as Empaths, is staying out of unnecessary stress. This is the manufactured trauma designed to impact our solar plexus (Seat of Emotions), making us unhappy, and projectors of low vibrational energy.

If you know that you are being badly impacted by any online site, you could either choose not to go on, or perhaps use an alarm clock and the ten-minute rule. (Give yourself ten minutes, to look at what you need to, then when the beeper goes off, disengage the internet.)

If you work on your laptop, perhaps turn off the internet connection, whenever you can. This always helps me not to peek on places I don’t need to be. Or why not download stuff and watch it offline?

If you really want to feel the impact of online media, stay off it for three days, and see for yourself just how it lowers your energy and moods.

Remember, not only will staying out of manufactured stress energy help transform your life, it will assist others in transforming theirs.

Ok, that’s my offering for today.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the subject.

Hope this helps on your journey.

Until next time…

Diane 

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