Empaths: how to be okay when someone doesn’t understand you
There are very few human needs stronger than our desire to belong, to be heard, to be understood and accepted. Ok, maybe food, shelter and safety, but feeling understood is a close fourth.
Feeling misunderstood hits empathic people especially hard.
As a temperament minority, we grew up feeling different than others. Not better, but definitely different. Your brain, nervous system and energy field is more tuned-in. You notice everything, pick up the subtleties, sense beneath the surface, feel shifts in energy. You’re like a high-amplitude antenna.
Perhaps you were accepted for your sensitivity as a child. If you were not, it’s common to carry that childhood wound forward into your adulthood relationships.
Revealing your rich, inner world to others can feel very vulnerable. Like all along you’ve had to wear a mask to fit in to ‘normal’ culture and now that you’ve taken it off, you’re naked and exposed for all to see.
When you finally summon the courage to reveal yourself as a perceptive soul, anything less than complete, unconditional acceptance can feel devastating.
However, I invite you to at least consider an idea.
