An empath is a highly sensitive person who is able to feel and absorb other people’s emotions and/or physical symptoms. There are many positive aspects to being an empath, but it doesn’t come without its downfalls.
I have a friend who sobs uncontrollably when he reads or hears about a dog or a child being abused. My adopted mother’s empathy for her children made it nearly impossible to refrain from meddling in their affairs. And like a sponge, I absorb the ills and pains of those around me.
My husband Rick and my son Jordan signed up for a Relay for Life Bags Tournament at a local Tiki Hut inspired bar called ‘Flip Flops,’ sponsored by The American Cancer Society.
My boys sign-up because they love the competition–any kind of competition. It could be Ping-Pong and they’re in. That it is for charity is a great perk.
I’ve never attended this kind of tournament before and it was exciting to watch the different teams competing against each other. As I was looking around the sea of rabid sports fans and plastic palm trees, I couldn’t help but notice one young lady who was very, very pregnant sitting near me. Suddenly, I felt like a twenty pound bowling ball was sitting on my female organs and my back end. Many of my clients had recently had the flu–a horrible strain–and I assumed that I contracted it.
Nervously, I signaled to the boys that I felt sick and I was headed home to lay down. They gave me the thumbs up and were not surprisingly too caught up in their bag tossing to pay much attention. I drove home feeling quite bizarre, wondering what could possibly be wrong with me.
As I laid down on the couch and elevated my feet, it occurred to me the pains I was having were similar to the ones I had twenty-four years previously when I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy. I thought about the pregnant woman at the bar and I realized that this was not my pain at all.
I dozed off and woke to my cell phone beeping. The boys were texting me to come pick them up. When they got into my car, both were concerned asking me if everything was okay. When I explained what happened, Rick just grimaced and said what he always does, “You’re so weird!”
Jordan told me that he played against this pregnant woman and she was not carrying one child, she was pregnant with twin boys and due at any moment.
No wonder I felt like my bottom was gonna drop out from underneath me!
