Who Is Sucking You Dry?
We are all prone to energy vampires. But as Empaths, we tend to attract these negative people. If you haven’t already, please read 10 Traits Of Empaths Are You One?
Energy Vampires can be anyone, and as an Empath, you have to recognize when you are in one’s presence. Or else you will get sucked in.
Who Are These Energy Vampires?
People who feel like they are sucking the life out of you. Yup, we all had that boss, friend, relative, or someone close to us that has done just that. They take your positive energy, turn it into their negative energy, and draw you into their story, drama, or pity party. You walk away feeling completely drained of all energy.
Having worked with this type of person for years and years, I finally had to recognize that person for what they are, an energy vampire. I realized that I would never make this person happy with my job performance or ability to manage their business.
The day-to-day was so draining, and positivity of any kind was never given—only constant criticism, judgment, and belittling to other team members.
Stand Up For Yourself
I stood up for myself several times, especially when being spoken to as being incompetent or belittled. I did this distinctively twice during my time there. Once that was addressed, it didn’t happen too often after that.
However, other employees are still treated as such, and there was constant turnover due to this. No matter what I did to sustain office morale and encouragement, it wasn’t enough. People had self-respect and values and to allow someone to walk all over it was unacceptable as it should be.
So, why would I allow myself to be susceptible to this for so long?
It wasn’t until I had value and confidence in myself that I was able to walk away. I would no longer allow someone to steal my energy, and I would no longer allow it to be stolen. So I left. I haven’t looked back since and am so much happier.
It took me an entire year to cleanse or detox myself of that energy. It became so deeply embedded in me that I had a hard time shaking it. My usual energy protecting techniques were not enough.
Know Your Self Worth
Separating that negative, critical, and narcissistic behavior from myself was a lot of work. It required time, self-reflecting, and getting back to myself for it to fall away finally.
Slowly it
But when I finally woke up and saw that I was allowing this to happen and we were not respecting one another’s spirit, it was time to go. And nothing was going to stop me or keep me from moving on.
As an Empath, I would absorb that persons’ energy bring it home with me and it slowly melted and merged with my energy that it became hard to separate what was mine. It brought much stress, frustration, and anger to my life. Which in turn, I was carrying that energy home with me every day for seven years.
It was exhausting and heavy – for lack of a better word. I always felt weighed down. I had other stressors in my life that contributed, but this was the main one that I could not escape. Daily practice to clear that negative energy has improved the way I feel. Practice smudging regularly with sage spray or by burning sage.
You do the best you can in situations like this. You may not be able to quit the job and leave. Find ways to avoid the person or Energy Vampire, if possible, limit the interaction time, and shield yourself. Learn about this in 5 Ways To Protect Your Energy and 3 Must-Read Books for Empaths.
Lesson Learned
Finally, there was a lesson that I needed to learn in this situation. I did not realize it right away. But I did eventually wake up and see myself as more valuable on a spiritual and emotional level. When you see that, you respect yourself and no longer allow that person to drain your energy.
Find your strength, respect, value, and learn how to protect yourself from these energy vampires. Your peace and happiness are important. As a result, once Energy Vampires see you have this unshakable and impenetrable energy, they will see it and move on.
Your well-being and energy are your own, do not allow it to be stolen by apathetic people.
You are valued, and you are loved. Never forget it!
UPDATE 11/11/21
What if this person is someone you love?
It may be a more complicated task to limit your time with this person, especially if they’re in your life daily. In this instance, it’s necessary to set your boundaries. Addressing this person by telling them you love them but need to limit the amount of time centered around negative talk.
Negative talk in all forms or specific to your situation. For instance, constant complaining about every little thing in one’s life, insistent complaining about work or something/someone they do not like or care for in every other breath.
It can be easy to fall into a negative routine. It becomes a habit, and sometimes it just needs to be brought to someone’s attention that they routinely dwell in the negative talk. And as much as you love listening to them, perhaps they limit the negative play-by-play of their entire day. Because it also affects you and weighs you down.
It will also benefit that person to be mindful of their negativity. Sometimes people can keep themselves from being happy because they perpetuate the same negative feelings over and over by talking about things over and over.
And if you’re the person they share these stories with over and over, it becomes a constant weight around your neck. Be kind, loving, and help yourself and them by steering the conversation to something more positive.
To be more direct, ask to hear something positive in their day. You are asking them to be mindful and find something positive, no matter how minor, and change the tone of the conversation. While you cannot change a person, you can change how your interaction in the conversation goes.
I wish you peace and guidance on your journey. Take care and be well.
