Compassion fatigue

 From Patrick Weaver

Compassion fatigue is real. As tempting as it might be for the empath or trauma survivor, you have to be careful about jumping into every emotional fight, being the emotional savior or internalizing every emotional war as your own.

Compassion fatigue is the emotional and physical exhaustion that results from the prolonged exposure to the suffering or trauma of others. It's also known as secondary traumatic stress or vicarious trauma, leading to empathy overload, or hyper-empathy, happens when highly sensitive people absorb too many emotions from others, leading to exhaustion, anxiety, burnout, and feeling overwhelmed, like drowning in a sea of feelings. 

This state causes severe emotional, physical, and cognitive exhaustion, often resulting in withdrawal, impaired decision-making, and profound personal/professional disconnection. Your emotional stable and mental health are important, and having clear boundaries for yourself is critical to your safety and wellbeing.

Empathy doesn't mean we have to take ownership or responsibility for the emotional condition or conflict of others. We aren't capable of remaining in constant fight mode, or being constantly emotionally dysregulated without doing harm to ourselves. Sometimes, you just have to say no, remove yourself from highly volcanic environments, take the savior cape off, and recognize the difference between helping someone and hurting yourself, and guard yourself against emotional vampires who constantly suck the empathy out of you.

Empathy is good, but empathy without boundaries isn't. Empathy without boundaries results in compassion fatigue, empathy overload, and dysregulation. If you don't take care of you, you won't be any good to anybody else, including yourself.