It’s like I wake up and I’m already tired, but not physically. Mentally. Emotionally. Like everyone else dumped their leftover feelings on me while I was asleep or something. And I can’t shake it. Someone complains about work, I feel it in my chest. Someone’s excited about something I don’t care about, suddenly I feel jittery too. It’s exhausting and I don’t even know how to stop it.

Sometimes I try to ground myself, breathe, whatever people say. But then I get distracted by a text or a comment or someone walking past me and it’s like—bam—energy hits me again, like I have no filter. And I start thinking, maybe I’m weak, maybe I’m too sensitive, maybe this is just life and everyone else is fine and I’m the only one who can feel literally everything at once.

I’ve tried journaling. I’ve tried meditating. I’ve tried screaming into pillows. All of it helps for like five minutes and then… someone posts something online or a coworker talks about their weekend or I overhear my neighbor’s fight and suddenly I’m holding it again. And I hate it, but I also kind of… can’t stop noticing it.

Sometimes I wish I could just detach. Not be numb, just… shielded. Like a little bubble that lets me walk through life without absorbing everything like a sponge. And then I feel guilty, because isn’t noticing things supposed to be empathy or caring or something noble? And I feel guilty for wanting to turn it off. And also kind of lonely because no one else seems to feel it like this.

And then I sit there and try to figure out if it’s a spiritual thing or a mental thing or just life, and my brain loops and I spiral and I realize I’m thinking about it way too much and probably overanalyzing everything, and that’s probably part of it too.

Anyway. I’m tired.

R2J reply:

Hi there, thanks for writing in.

You’re not broken or weird, even if it feels like it. Feeling other people’s energy all the time is a thing — some people just pick it up without asking, like a radio signal they can’t turn off.

One thing I’ve learned — and it sounds obvious until you try it — is boundaries. Not walls, not shutting down, just tiny little shields. For me it’s stuff like earbuds in, noticing what’s mine vs what’s theirs, and actually naming it in my head: “that’s not mine, let it go.” Doesn’t always work, but it’s better than nothing.

Also, routines that center you help more than you’d think. Coffee first thing, even if it’s just black water pretending to be coffee. Walk outside. Stretch. Watch a dumb video that makes you laugh. Little rituals anchor you to your own energy so other people’s stuff doesn’t stick as hard.

Journaling is tricky. Don’t feel like you have to write the “perfect reflection” or insights. Just dump it — thoughts, feelings, weird tangents about yesterday’s fight in the neighbor’s apartment, even what the cat did. It’s about offloading, not solving everything.

And sometimes, weirdly, the trick is noticing it without fixing it. Sitting with “this is too much” for a few seconds, admitting it, then letting it drift instead of spiraling. It’s not spiritual perfection, it’s survivalism.

People will still vent around you. You’ll still absorb things. And yeah, some days it will feel like a tide you can’t escape. But you learn to surf it a little, or at least float without drowning. Tiny victories count.

Just clarify yourself, your space, your energy. and set up your boundaries.

That’s the first step.

Write to us anytime,

R2J