by How can we stay resilient and hopeful when the negative emotions in this country are crushing to empaths? I have never lived in such a time in the United States when hate was so proudly on parade on a daily basis, and the leader of the country was also the leader of the hate parade. It has been making me physically sick lately.
My creed has always been “Don’t feed the monster.” By this I mean don’t give attention and energy to the negative because it only grows in strength when you do. For years, I have not watched the news because the stories thrive on the horrible, the deadly, the awful, and the tragic. And empaths are very visual – any horrific images will be easily recalled and burned in your brain forever.
However, you cannot live with your head in the sand. You may avoid things you don’t want to see and feel, but you will also hide your own light – and you will hide your own gift to the world – which in this case is desperately needed compassion. We need to know what is going on in the world. So I have been reading and listening to the news on the radio. A lot. And it’s mostly bad. I don’t want to get sucked down the hole of doom, so my question is what’s an empath to do?
I am usually a resilient and optimistic person, but of late, not so much. When my husband tells me that he is worried about me, I know that it is time to self-reflect, and figure out a way back towards hope. Time to find the strength for resilience.
Resilience is fighting back in a healthy way. I found a concise article with practical ideas to build resilience at verywell.com. Here are “10 Ways to Become More Resilient” by Kendra Cherry:
Find a Sense of Purpose in Your Life. …
Build Positive Beliefs in Your Abilities. …
Develop a Strong Social Network. …
Embrace Change. …
Be Optimistic. …
Nurture Yourself. …
Develop Your Problem-Solving Skills. …
Establish Goals… Take Steps to Solve Problems… Keep Working on Your Skills…
It gave me a lot to think about and remind myself of. Biggest take away for empaths was in the closing lines: “Psychological resilience does not involve any specific set of behaviors or actions, but can vary dramatically from one person to the next. Focus on practicing some of the common characteristics of resilient people, but also, remember to build upon your existing strengths.” And our strengths are to feel what people are feeling – we can hold up a mirror to injustice and offer compassion back to those in need.
Here is the link to Cherry’s full article: https://www.verywell.com/ways-to-become-more-resilient-2795063. Go get your resilience on.
