Some of us came here wired for empathy. We feel everything ~ the happys, the saddness, the collective ache of the world ~ as if it’s all happening inside us. It’s beautiful, but it’s also bloody exhausting.

Empathy is our superpower ♡

But it’s also our soft spot ~ the part of us that keeps saying “yes” even when our soul is begging for rest.

I used to think being kind meant being available all the time ~ the emotional first responder, the fixer, the one who’d show up even when my own cup was bone dry.

But lately I’ve realised that empathy needs boundaries ~ otherwise, it stops being care and starts being self-sacrifice.

Here’s the truth no one tells the world-savers: You can’t pour light from a burned-out lantern.

And those “energy vampires” (we all know them ~ the ones who take and take and leave you dizzy and drained) they thrive in the glow of humans like us. Not because they’re evil, but because we’re willing. We keep showing up, hoping love will fix what only self-awareness can.

Empathy doesn’t mean absorbing every storm.

Sometimes it means standing in the rain without catching lightning.

Protecting your empathy doesn’t make you hard ~ it makes you sustainable. It’s saying “I still care, but I’m not your power source” “I can love you, but not at the cost of myself” “I’ll hold space, but I won’t live there” ♡

Because the world doesn’t actually need us to save it. It just needs us to stay.

To keep our hearts open but intact, to rest when we’re weary, to laugh in between the heartbreak and to remember that healing the world begins with healing our own nervous system ♡

So if you’ve been feeling like your empathy is both your crown and your curse ~ this is your reminder: Protect it. Tend it. Guard it.

You’re allowed to keep your light for yourself sometimes.

The world will still find its way to shine ♡

Love (from a safe emotional distance) Rain x