Find Out If You Are an Empath Today!
2nd January 2023
In this article, we will look at the topic of empathy, who is an empathetic, and much more. The purpose of the article is for us to know how important it is to have people who are highly empathetic in our societies for the same of finding and maintaining peace. However, are you an empath? How do you know you are or you are not? Read more below.
Who Is An Empath?
There are many English definitions both online and offline. One of the best definitions is “An empath is a person highly attuned to the feelings and emotions of those around them. Empaths feel what another person is feeling at a deep emotional level.” ~ verywellmind.com.1
After reading that article, I felt like I am somehow an empathetic, but not hundred percent and empathy. This is because I have developed a way to cope with emotions years ago. I have created my own path in life where I still care but don’t get too much involved into other people’s lives since this is not helpful to me and to others as well.
Related: Self-Help Category
Maturity means understanding what people are going through without getting yourself into the situation as if you are the reason for it. You see it now? Yes, I am an empath, but I don’t get consumed as I was many years ago when I was young and immature physically and emotionally.
Again, everything in this world is a spectrum – levels of measurements. This means there are different levels of empathy. Others may be too empathetic while others are simply empathetic in their thoughts, words, and actions. As I mentioned above, I don’t really know where I belong in the spectrum. All I know for now is that I am an empath, but whether I am too high or too low or just in the middle, I can’t tell.
Are You An Empath?
Over to you!
In the same post quoted above, you might find out whether you are an empath or not. It has a few questions to help you look into your own self and then make the final decision. As mentioned earlier, not every empath is the same. This means you might be an empath but a different one.
When you are very high in empathy, it means you allow other people’s emotions to overtake you without any critical thinking. You soak in those emotions and forget to care about your own emotions. Instead, other people’s emotions become yours at the moment. It might take you time to get rid of those emotions.
These 15 signs2 and symptoms might help you know if you are an empath or not.
This is why people like me don’t enjoy going to funeral rites because we get involved without giving it a thought. It’s just natural. I seem to hear every word, spoken or acted. That makes me think more than the ones speaking or acting.
We also have a very high sense of what is right and what is wrong more than psychopaths – people who don’t feel other people’s emotions. If you find yourself trying to make sense of what someone was carelessly saying, then you might be an empath. Most people seem not to care about how they speak or act, but the opposite is true with us. We interpret emotions and try to act them out ourselves, and this is not always healthy. If you feel this way, you are an empath. However, there are many factors to make you feel like this depending on the situation at hand.
I can safely say that every human being, even a mad man, feels empathetic at some times, depending on what is going on around him. Thus, the difference is in numbers – those high and those low in numbers are described based on that. You are empathetic person no matter how low or how high you might be on the empathy spectrum.
Advantages of Being an Empath
If you are indeed high in empathy, then you can be able to help yourself and others in your life cope with your and their emotions. Well, I wish you can do just that with ease. However, no one can help another person perfectly except themselves. You can help others only if they cooperate with you alone the way. That means if they are listening to your actions.
Yes, there are many and countless advantages of being an empath in our human societies where people need psychological and emotional support. One of the advantages is the ability to read people’s minds even before they act or speak up about their situation. Bear in mind that not all of us are able to do this. But if you can, that’s a great gift to make use of.
Another advantage is that when you sense that other people’s emotions will drag you to the grave, you can choose to treat yourself first before you try to treat them. At the end of it all, it takes the emotional person to take your words and empathetic actions for his or her own healing. Therefore, empathy is very helpful for both you and your family members.
Oh yes, we can be helpful in our own small ways in different societal levels – individually, at homes, at clans, at tribes, and at our countries. This is how advantageous it is to be empathetic at home, at school and even at work. People know you are there for them, not just for yourself, and that feeling alone is assuring.
Disadvantages of Being an Empath
Now, there are many disadvantages of having high empathetic feelings and actions towards yourself and towards other people in your life. This means it can be very harmful to be an empath if you don’t learn how to make use of such a precious gift. This is the heart of this article – help you make use of your empathetic gift wisely.
Empathy can be harmful to an individual if not used wisely as stated above. This is because simple issues can take all your time and mental activities. You don’t need this. You have to be free and flexible. Every human, every animal, every insect, every bird (just to name a few) has his or her own life issues to face. For this reason, you are never alone. Everyone else has troubles, thus, you don’t have to worry too much about you issues.
Also, empathy can affect others around you if not used wisely. This is because our individual actions affect other people around us especially in socialist and collectivistic societies such as South Sudan. Just as late Prof. John Mbiti of Kenya used to say, in South Sudan, you are because I am, and I am because you are. This is why even if you just decide to wake up a bit later; everyone in the family will always be concerned. People will always try to check on you if you don’t wake up with everyone else.
This is how empathy affects others negatively. This is one of the disadvantages. There are so many of these setbacks and we can’t be able to mention and then discuss each and every one of these points here. But I hope this is enough for our purpose. You might want to share some of the disadvantages at the end of this post.
The Importance of Empathy in Our Human Society
Knowing both the advantages and disadvantages of being an empath in our society are very important. We need to take note of these individually. As mentioned earlier, all humans are naturally empathetic, but the difference is a spectrum. Those who are in the middle and those who are very high in empathy are known as empaths, and those who are very low in empathy are known as psychopaths.
In every human society we need empaths, and this is the importance of having such people around us. We need them as friends. We need them in a family, either as siblings, partners, and parents. We need them as neighbors as well as coworkers and colleagues. We need empaths everywhere. Even animals, while or domestic, need empaths in their communities or else.
Think about it. If we have a good number of empathetic people at homes, clans, villages, bomas, payams, countries, states, and regions in South Sudan, we will also have peace and harmony in the country. That’s my imagination for sure. I think leaders will worry and be concerned about the suffering of their people if they themselves are empathetic.
In the same way, individuals will feel concerned for the demise of any other human being regardless of which community she or he is coming from. This empathy in families, clans, and tribes will create true peace in our societies and communities.
This also means that it’s not a work for the government alone to have peace and maintain peace in South Sudan and beyond. It is a work of the people, too, if at all they are only empathetic about life in nature. I can only imagine how peaceful we will be if we are highly empathetic in our everyday dealings with each other in whatever level of relationships.
Empathy and Femininity
From my personal observation over the years, most women always seem to be more empathetic than most men. However, this highly depends on if a woman is either a feminist or a masculine in nature. Yes, women can either be masculine or feminine, just as some men are naturally feminine. Empathy seems to resonate well with femininity, while aggressiveness and psychopathy has to do mostly with masculinity and maleness.
Men are sometimes describes as being heartless. They seem not to care much. Their hormones make them focus on work, not on emotions, though they do process emotions just as women do. This is what people mean when they tell you, “Be a man!” especially when you are in pain and you are trying to act out cowardly and womanly. These terms might mean different things to different people depending on the culture in which they were brought up. For me, being a woman is connected with fear, physical weakness, empathy, and unnecessary emotions that come with these. Being a man on the other hand means to fight on no matter what happens to you in life. We were taught to handle lost and pain manly, meaning no panic or fretting.
Summary
This article is more than 1.8k in words, and that means you have read a lot! Congratulations for taking your time to read it all to this point. I believe you now have a better idea of the topic. However, each and every writer has her/his way of thinking and writing. For me, life is just the way it is – there is nothing like one-size-fits all.
For example, I told you from the beginning of the article that I am an empathetic person, though I can’t tell how empathetic I am in all my dealings. Does this mean that I want you to become an empath? God forbid! You are who you are, already, and you don’t have to become who you are not. That will be against my philosophy – you only discover and improve yourself and your career.
Take whatever you can take from this article and leave whatever you can’t take. Be yourself! Enjoy your life as it is. That’s what therapists don’t want to tell you and they are right – you must discover this fact, yourself.
Further Readings
- What Is an Empath and How Do You Know If You Are One? – verywellmind.com
- 15 Signs You Might Be An Empath – healthline.com
