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Showing compassion and helping others is fine. Empathy strengthens social ties and allows us all to fight together against the evils of society. However, constant worries about friends and loved ones negatively affect us and our lives. The sooner you recognize compassionate fatigue in yourself, the easier it will be for you to deal with it.
This is the emotional exhaustion that we experience when we carry the pain and suffering of other people. Compassionate fatigue can be described as the price we pay for our indifference to those who are ill. We "pay" with our inner energy for treating other people's troubles as our own, or we throw all our strength to support those in need of help.
If you know this feeling, do not worry even more. There are several ways to remain a sensitive person without "falling" into compassionate fatigue.
Do you wake up in the morning and immediately feel empty because you are worried about a friend or family member and are trying to figure out how to help him in a difficult situation? This can be a dangerous signal.
It's natural to worry about loved ones. However, it's time to think about it if you can't focus on anything else and feel an urgent need to constantly write or call people to make sure that they are doing well. Such a state is a direct path to compassionate fatigue.
If you are too irritable towards others, perhaps you are just tired of constantly thinking about other people's problems. Signs of compassionate fatigue are manifested in our attitude towards those who do not go through a difficult emotional period.
When we are in constant fear for a loved one, we experience burnout and may overreact to any requests from colleagues or family members. Neglecting the rest of the people in our life who care about us, or mistreating them, is caused by stress and frustration arising from the mismatch of our desire to help with our capabilities.
To lead a habitual way of life when you are tired of compassion — it takes a huge inner strength. To overcome breakdowns, it is necessary to find a healthy way out of your worries and worries.
When we feel compassionate fatigue, we are so depressed that we sorely lack inner energy. This happens because we really want to help a loved one, but we have no way to change the situation.
Think about it. When you try to cope with your own stress, you find the strength to push yourself to action. But when a friend or family member has problems, you are helpless because you cannot make a choice for them. This leads to a feeling of emotional impotence.
When we are regularly a "vest" for our friends, we quickly get tired and lose strength. The constant "transfer" of someone else's pain to ourselves sometimes pushes us to addictions. Being the "keeper" of other people's experiences is so hard, and not the healthiest ways to have fun are so tempting.
We can start eating fast food in the middle of the night, get carried away with gambling, or abuse alcohol and cigarettes to have fun and distract ourselves. This happens because in a difficult period of emotional despair, we really need any, even the briefest moments of joy.
