ARE YOU AN Emotional Sponge?

Do you absorb the negative feelings of those around you? Here's how to protect yourself, and turn it into a superpower.

AIternately referred to as empaths, highly sensitive people, or my least favourite - emotional A tend to confide in us, we feel others' pain keenly, we frequently feel emotionally overwhelmed, we're highly perceptive, easily overstimulated and loud, crowded places can freak us out. In addition, we'd rather eat glass than upset or even inconvenience anyone else. Hands up, all you people pleasers out there! sponges, you'll know if you are one: people 'Taking on everyone's emotions can be very exhausting, like a 10-ton shield you are carrying around that does not belong to you,' says emotional intelligence coach Candice King (candiceking.co.za). 'Feeling like this can lead to resentment and even burnout.' Indeed, the downsides of unmanaged sensitivity can range from constant low-grade anxiety on the mild end, to an incapacitating emotional crisis on the other.

WHY AM I LIKE THIS?

It is almost always a pattern that was established in childhood, says Candice. Emotional sponges are always 'switched on' (hypervigilant) to our environment and the emotional temperature of the people in it - we have a deeper central nervous system sensitivity to emotional or social stimuli.