Watching violent news; being around sarcastic, critical, or narcissistic people; or spending days at an amusement park are not things empaths enjoy. To feel their best, empaths need to minimize or avoid situations like this unless they want to end up feeling exhausted, drained, used, or anxious.
Fearing intimacy and getting closer.
Some empaths may avoid dating or romantic commitment because they fear being overwhelmed by a partner's energies and emotions.
They're better “programmed” to see the bigger picture, which can be overwhelming. Moreover, they often process things in ways other folks don't. So when people make demands on their time and sympathy wells, empaths may grow annoyed or frustrated as they see the real deal.
Refrain from hurting an empath
If you hurt them, they may have a hard time trusting you, and they might also take it personally, even if you didn't mean for them to. Try to talk about issues with them and be honest with them, and these things should be able to diffuse some hurtful situations.
But empathy can have a dark side. Some people, known as dark empaths, understand the feelings of others but don't feel these feelings themselves. They might act like they care, but deep down, they don't feel sympathy for you or have a desire to help. They use their understanding of your feelings to manipulate you.
As an empath in a tense moment, your heart rate may quicken even more than normal. Your anger may feel heightened, your sadness more intense. It's harder to control your own emotions because you have your emotions and your partner's emotions running through your body.
An empath is a particularly sensitive person, someone who is able to feel and experience exactly what others do. While empaths can make wonderful caring friends, in a romantic relationship they can often find it difficult because they tend to quickly become very intense.
"But unfortunately empaths are attracted to narcissists, because at first this is about a false self. Narcissists present a false self, where they can seem charming and intelligent, and even giving, until you don't do things their way, and then they get cold, withholding and punishing."
Intellectuals can make good partners for certain empaths because their sense of logic compliments and grounds an empath's emotional intensity. Ask for help. Intellectuals love to solve problems. Be very specific about ways they can assist you with a problem or task.
Empaths need to be around people who accept their beautifully in-tune nature instead of trying to change them. Those people see how giving, open, and caring empaths are. They recognize that empaths can be amazing friends, partners, and confidants, and they don't take that for granted.
Because empaths quite literally feel what their friends are going through, they can become overwhelmed by painful emotions, such as anxiety or anger. Empaths have a tendency to take on the problems of others as their own.
What Is the Empath's Curse? Being an empath is a fantastic gift but if you don't know what you're dealing with, it can feel like a curse. It's hard to know what you feel because you're feeling things other people are feeling too, not just your own emotions. Which feelings belong to you and which belong to someone else?
Compared to someone who is highly sensitive (empathetic vs. empathic), an empath has a greater sensory awareness and feels extremely emotional about others, their surroundings, and the visual images or media they're exposed to. (You'll often hear empaths say even TV commercials can elicit spontaneous crying).
Emotional empaths tend to intuit and absorb their partner's energy. Without space to decompress, they become overloaded, anxious, or exhausted. Energetically sensitive people unknowingly avoid romantic partnerships because deep down they're afraid of getting engulfed.
Personality types ENFP, ENFJ, INFJ, and INFPs are natural empaths per the MBTI Personality types. Empaths are also called Idealists & Diplomats. Highly Sensitive People belong to these MBTI types.
Physical touch
Empaths desire physical attention from their partners and it would likely be one of the love languages they need most.
"Dating an empath can be both challenging and rewarding. They are highly intuitive and often have a great sense of understanding and compassion for others. This can make them excellent partners who are supportive and nurturing.
The narcissist has the opportunity to exploit the empath's need for love for their own fulfillment. In this sense, the narcissist is unlikely to consider their actions as problems. Until they are able to reflect on their own behaviors and feel their feelings, the narcissist will not change.
Highly empathetic individuals may be more emotionally intelligent. This is because they can use their perspective to guide their actions. However, this means empaths need to be able to regulate their own emotions, particularly their emotional response to others, to take constructive action.
Empaths are givers.
They often put their partner and their needs before their own — it's what they do best. It's just in their nature for them to give their time, energy, and affection to someone — or anyone, really. They give so much of themselves to people, even if those people are undeserving.
But when you're a highly sensitive person, breakups are more than that — they can completely overwhelm your system. Because highly sensitive people feel everything so deeply, the pain of rejection and separation are as keen as a broken leg. Science already confirms that emotional pain is as real as physical pain.
Spend Time Together. Deep meaningful relationships are very important to empaths. It is probably hard for you to make small talk and deal with superficial connections. However, you may expect your feelings and your partner's feelings to remain strong without putting in a lot of effort.
Empaths might also shy away from physical contact. They might be uncomfortable being in close proximity to people, especially those who express love through hugs and other forms of physical touch. This can become problematic in romantic relationships if the empath struggles to let their guard down and be intimate.