They experienced the world with fewer barriers than most. They had no choice but to be genuine and honest. It was in their DNA. They shared their deepest selves and trusted in the kindness of others. People were drawn to them for their clarity and their complete lack of personal drama. Not damaged, no baggage. Just pure, unfiltered understanding.
I have known many empaths across a lifetime of readings. Some of the finest psychic readers I have ever encountered are, without doubt, super-empaths. What makes them extraordinary in a sitting is exactly what makes the rest of their lives complicated. They feel everything. They absorb what others carry. They cannot simply switch it off when they leave the room.
I have had to learn this myself. Being a sounding board for people's pain, their hope, their fear, their confusion, it is a privilege and it is exhausting in equal measure. You have to be deliberate about it, or it takes more than you can give.
Energy vampires
There is a particular kind of person who is drawn to empaths. They are not necessarily malicious. Often they are simply people in a great deal of pain, looking for someone who will hold it with them. But they can drain you completely if you are not careful, and some of them have no real intention of getting better. They need the audience. They need the witness. They need you to absorb what they cannot carry themselves.
I call them energy vampires, and I say it without judgment. But I say it plainly, because empaths need to hear it plainly. You are not obliged to be endlessly available. Compassion without boundaries is not compassion, it is self-destruction dressed up as kindness.
If someone opens up to you, just listen. Often that is all we ever really need. To be heard.
Listening is a profound act. Do not underestimate it. But there is a difference between genuinely holding space for someone and becoming the permanent container for everything they will not deal with themselves. The first is a gift. The second will hollow you out.
What a lifetime of readings taught me
The best readers I have worked with, the ones who have lasted, who are still doing this work with genuine presence and care, all learned the same thing eventually. You have to close down after a sitting. You have to have a ritual, a practice, a clear signal to yourself that the session is over and their energy is theirs again, not yours to carry home.
It took me time to learn this properly. I was not naturally good at it. I am drawn to people, to their stories, to what is underneath what they say. That is useful in a reading and it needs managing everywhere else. If you recognise yourself in any of this, that recognition is the beginning of looking after yourself properly.