This stress that spreads in the office

Empaths are highly sensitive to people and their feelings, and generally supportive of others. They are finely tuned to emotions, and feel everything, sometimes to an extreme. They tend to be emotional sponges: someone who is easily influenced by the positive or negative energy of others.

The concept of an emotional sponge is well known amongst empath people, but are they the only one to be affected?

The feelings of heaviness

Have you ever had a feeling of unease when entering a meeting room?

This weird feeling of heaviness, that something unpleasant will be shared or that the electricity in the air is making your skin crawl even before a word is spoken?

Yes? Well, that is the “sponge” concept.

You may put this feeling into the basket of “I should have stayed in bed this morning” and move on. But the fact is that your day maybe stained for a while due to this unpleasant meeting atmosphere.

You are not alone

Emotional contamination is not only occurring in the meeting rooms and definitely not only affecting highly sensitive people, but it also affects all of us. The stress of others is silent but dig its way into you just as water hollows out a stone with time.

It can come from:

• A colleague that gives you a job always at the last minute
• Someone in the office complaining all the time
• One who speaks too loud while others are trying to concentrate
• The chatterbox who insists on talking to you despite the ton of work on your shoulders, and who you do not dare to interrupt.

And so on…

How can you prevent the stress of others impacting on yourself? The answer is linked to your positioning. Allow yourself to say no to a conversation or be prepared to set your boundaries, or by inviting your grumpy colleague to keep his negativity to himself, or decide to remain neutral and not get involved on other’s quarrels.

There are numerous solutions. Most of them you need to find out for yourself. A first step is to clear out or set boundaries. You need to find the source of the discomfort, and then find a way to engage with your colleagues so that your needs are respected.

Constructive and factual defense

It may seem difficult at first. But if you engage in a way that is constructive, unaggressive, and factual, you may be surprised to discover that others are often not conscious of their impact on you.

Access your free 5 tips to Dance With Your Fears (Gracefully) and find your way back to calmness at www.christelmesey.com. This is also available in a French version.