Relationships can be draining and taxing for empaths as you can become overwhelmed by taking on the emotional energy of other people. But not all relationships need to leave you feeling depleted and like you’re better off living alone in a cave somewhere (tell us we’re not the only ones who’ve thought about that.)
Relationships can also be the very cornerstone of an empath’s feelings of support and confidence in themselves- when it’s a healthy one!
So here are 7 things all empaths need to create healthy relationships, whether romantic, friendly, or familial. These are 7 keys to keep you feeling loved, respected, and honored in your relationships, as you should be!
And when you realize you don’t have some of these things in certain relationships, you’ll know exactly where you can look to start making some improvements, or you’ll know which relationships may need to be put on the backburner or cut off completely.
Boundaries
We’ve mentioned this quite a few times before here and we’ll say it again and again as it may be one of the most important things for empaths to learn- you need to create clear boundaries in your relationships.
A relationship that has boundaries set around each other’s expectations, communication, behavior, and physical space can leave you feeling safe and secure enough to open up and share your authentic self with the other person.
This is important for everyone but highly imperative for empaths, as you can get so used to catering to and molding around everyone else’s feelings that you really need a safe space in relationships where you feel comfortable to let your guard down, or else unhealthy co-dependency ensues.
Expression
Empaths need relationships where you have space to find and express yourself, where you can feel all your many feelings and express them without being judged or scorned.
You need to do this in healthy ways that aren’t detrimental to anyone else, of course, but as an empath, to have someone supportive of your emotionality is very important. So often you’ve been told you’re too sensitive and shamed for it, and that’s how you learn to bottle up emotions and become overwhelmed.
Freedom
Empaths are often very self-reliant and self-possessed, used to doing a lot for themselves, by themselves. Even in relationships, you need to retain a sense of that freedom and ability to do your own thing and fulfill your own needs, while also learning how to open up to the support a relationship can provide.
With freedom comes acceptance. It means you’re free to be yourself and also accepted for it. That’s ideal for your relationships. As well as your reciprocal need to accept others as they are and not always be trying to help them, shift them, and change them.
Honest communication
One of the best things about empaths is that they’re honest. Your awareness of how other people are feeling makes you incredibly insightful and perceptive, and you sometimes can’t stand the small talk and chit-chat about superficial things.
Empaths are real, raw, and honest people. You’ll thrive when you have that sort of communication in your relationships, where you’re able to communicate your needs, feel heard and open up from your heart.
Listening
Empaths listen so well to everyone else, they just want to be heard back and feel like they too are acknowledged and understood. As an empath, when you’re surrounded by relationships where you’re always the soundboard, the supporter, the one to nod, encourage and advise others, you can start to feel squashed inside, unseen and unheard.
It can be hard to speak up in those times, to cut through another person’s loud voice, to ask for attention to be drawn to you, so instead you stay the perennial listener. But to have truly healthy relationships, there needs to be listening happening on both sides.
You can learn to ask others to be more present and really hear you. And those in a relationship with empaths can do their part to encourage them to open up and truly listen to what they have to say.
Alone time
As the perennial introverts, empaths not only crave a lot of alone time, they need it, as an imperative, a must-have, a non-negotiable.
Often for an empath, being alone is the only way you can get a sense of your own self, your current emotions, your ideas, your desires, and your creative whims. It can get very hard to tune into those things when you’re around other people’s energy all day, so alone time is when you can stop tuning into the energy of everyone else, and start tuning into the energy of you.
It’s essential to find relationships that honor and respect your need for alone time and don’t take it as a personal offense!
Receiving
As an empath, you’re a giver, that’s just part of your DNA, so it’s important that you also learn how to receive in your relationships. Not only will this help you become more balanced and less depleted all the time, but it will also deepen your relationships and allow others to feel good by giving to you.
It can actually be downright uncomfortable for some empaths to step into receiver mode and allow others to help or accept compliments or good things happening in their lives. If this is you, it’s a sign that your empathic tendencies are blocking your ability to receive, and that it would benefit you to have relationships that open you up to receive, that are mutual and reciprocal, to help you find more balance and wellbeing in every area of your life.