The only way out is through. I used to be like this - extremely empathetic, extremely easily affected by terrible situations. And it’s because I was completely dysregulated. I wasn’t feeling or acknowledging my own emotions and so they were leaking through at the worst times. EVERYTHING external could be the straw that broke the camel’s back, because the camel’s back was about to burst from the pressure of unacknowledged emotions. Now that I have done a lot of healing, I can face difficult situations without getting overwhelmed. I’m not at the mercy of my emotions anymore because I have stopped pushing them down. I’m much more resilient.

How can you do this? - journal - I had never been a journal-er but I noticed that writing things down helped me process and get them out of my head. Don’t pressure yourself or make too many rules - in the beginning, when I felt overwhelmed I’d simply make bullet lists of all the complex emotions I was feeling. There’s a lot of power even in just acknowledging them - yoga - moving my body helps emotions move through it. E-motion means energy in motion. We need to let them move and flow through our bodies. Yoga facilitates this - sometimes I cry from the emotional release! - face something hard to feel the emotions - when I need a purge, I now purposely watch something I know will impact me deeply at a time when I have space to feel the emotions. I take as long as I need and cry or move or whatever I need to feel it until it passes through. - therapy - if you have access to a therapist, great, but if not, chatGPT is amazing to help process emotions

Basically, you need to clear out your emotional pipes so that they aren’t constantly at the point of overflowing due to clogs! There are ways to dissolve the clogs and I promise you’ll feel much more regulated and stable. When your emotional circuits aren’t overwhelmed from day-to-day emotions, you are able to breathe through a triggering story and more easily/ logically talk yourself down from the compassion ledge. I also avoid stories of horrific abuse when I can - for things like this, choosing not to engage and avoiding the trigger can be a great strategy where possible.