Surviving the Holidays as an Empath Part 1

Do you struggle with emotional and energetic boundaries around friends and family? 

I have been DOING SOME WORK on this in 2019. It’s been a critical part of my intuitive journey to set good boundaries to protect my energy and that starts with some practical everyday things that we all can do.

Today I offer some advice on surviving the holidays as an Empath.  No, not just surviving, THRIVING!!  

Last week we discussed what makes you an empath so if you missed that blog, you can catch up here

Now that you know that you struggle with taking on other people’s energy, what do you do about it?

The holidays bring the added challenge of inundating us with a lot of events, a lot of people, and a lot of dysfunctional family patterns.  The challenge is being present while not burning yourself out.

So let’s talk about some strategies.

I like to start with my favorite strategy which is saying “no” to things or events that you just know are going to be too much.  Now, I know that this can be a particularly big challenge but maybe you could just challenge yourself to say “no” to one thing. Just to try it.  Test how it feels. You might feel some guilt but notice what is right behind that. If you are in a relationship, you can also make your partner the one that responds to events if you struggle with it.

There is also the time-limiting strategy.  If saying no is impossible or produces too much guilt, you can also set a time-boundary.  This is a great approach when you are just starting out. If you reflect on the past few years you might start to notice a pattern of when you start to feel overwhelmed. Maybe it’s after two hours, maybe longer.  Either way, if you can make the plan that you will arrive a little later than usual and leave a little earlier, you might find that you have much less anxiety going into the event.

Another great tactic is to prepare yourself ahead of time by scheduling breaks.  This can be as simple as giving yourself an hour to step away from everything and read your book.  It could be five minutes where you step into the other room and do some deep breathing. You could also choose to schedule a massage or energy work the day after you have a party.

You can also schedule some recovery time.  After any major events, you can schedule a day where you or you and your family are at home for the day.  You might be thinking, no i don’t have time I’m too busy. But this is where we come back to that saying “no” to things.  It will be okay if you don’t do every single holiday event. You will survive and so will your loved ones. Give yourself permission to schedule these breaks.  They will benefit all of you.

Finally we come to the reward/incentive strategy.  I fully admit this is a form of self-bribery and I approve of it 100%.  It acts as a reward and a light at the end of the tunnel. Schedule a massage, or a yoga workshop, or energy work before the season even starts.

The reason why I love this approach so much is threefold.  First, you have to calendar it so it’s already built into your schedule and if you want to cancel you will be met with the same resistance that you get when saying no to anything else so you’re more likely to keep the appointment. 

Finally, It can also help clear anything out of your system that you picked up in your time.  Massage can release tension from the muscles and promote relaxation. Energy work, like Reiki or acupuncture, can help you release any energy you picked up from friends or family during your interactions.  It can help to balance your own system and establish your own energetic boundaries.

To plan ahead for this, I have opened up my New Year Release and Initiation Reiki and Tarot combo.  I’m so excited to be doing this work as a combination. 

I always channel my offerings so that they are directed by spirit. As soon as I settled into meditation to plan my new year tarot offering, I kept hearing the message that I needed to include Reiki with this offering. The purpose of this is to help clear about any heaviness from 2019 and to provide direction for 2020.  The Reiki helps to move out any energy that is stagnant or out of balance. It allows the client to release anything stagnant that they are holding onto from the past year and bring in new creative, inspiring energy.  

This offering consists of both Reiki energy work, past life release, and a year ahead tarot spread.  This spread is very complex (20 cards!!) and it will give insights into the next year as well as the energy you will be working with throughout the new decade.  

These sessions span approximately two hours and it is the ultimate in self-care.  It’s so easy to get sucked into the holidays and the hype of the new year without ever making time for you. 

I totally get it.  Before you know it, it will be the end of January and you haven’t even thought about what you want from the year.  The benefit of this type of reading is that it will help you play to your strengths and give you momentum going into the new year (and decade).

I’m so incredibly excited as always to work with all of you.  Bookings are open now but spots are very limited. I’m only offering these sessions a couple times a week and I know that people have limited time over the holidays.  So if this offering speaks to you, please sign up early to save a spot. They will only be available through the end of January.

Link to schedule is below:


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