How to Protect your Energy as a Highly Sensitive Mama (aka Empath)

Motherhood can feel overwhelming at the best of times, let alone when you identify as an Empath or highly sensitive Mama, taking on everyone’s emotions around you as if they are your own. Your physical energy reserves can be limited when sleep deprivation and care-taking demands are part of your everyday life, so reserving your energy for yourself and your loved ones is essential if you want to move through Motherhood with strength and ease.

The biggest thing getting in the way of Empath Mothers experiencing this?

Not knowing how to protect their energy.

If you haven’t identified yourself as an Empath already, read through the signs below to see if they resonate:

Loud noises, big personalities, and crowds overwhelm you
You feel emotions and physical pain of others as if they were your own
You have a strong intuition
You take comfort in nature
People describe you as sensitive
You feel things deeply
You often experience sensory overload
People tend to tell you their problems

How do you recognise this in motherhood and what do you do about it?

You may have experienced this playing out like this:

Feeling drained after playdates
Being invited to a play date, not having the energy to go but going anyway
Taking on other people’s problems even when you don’t have the mental/emotional capacity to do so
Staying in conversations/friendships that are draining you or go against your values
Easing other people’s stress even when that means you absorb it yourself
Allowing others needs to be more important than your own to the point of martyring yourself

‘This sounds like me… now what?!’

Protecting your energy is even more essential as an Empath Mother.

You are intrinsically connected with your child from the moment they are conceived. Protecting your own energy is protecting theirs too.

Quick tips to replenish your energetic and physical body:

Time to yourself

This one may seem unattainable in motherhood, as time to yourself can be limited, depending on the age and needs of your child. Creating time for yourself can look different in each household, however is essential for your own mental and energetic wellbeing. Empaths thrive in moments of solitude as big crowds and excess noise can cause sensory overload.

Time in nature

Mother Nature is the easiest way to ground your body and clear your energy.

It can be as simple as walking barefoot outdoors, putting your feet in the ocean or sitting near a tree. The natural energetic charge stabilises our physiology at the deepest levels. In simple terms, it recharges you. Benefits of earthing include improved sleep, mood, energy and blood flow.

Disconnecting from social media

Now more than ever, it’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of subconsciously consuming news and highlight reels that have a negative impact on your emotional and mental state. If your social media is leaving you emotionally drained, fearful, stressed, or angry. It’s not worth your time or energy. Listen to your body when you’re consuming social media. How does it make you feel? Conscious consumption can protect your emotional, mental, and energetic wellbeing. It’s time to stop the mindless scrolling if it’s making you feel worse.

Energetic & physical boundaries

Do you know where you draw the line? Often in Motherhood, we can get bombarded with others’ unsolicited advice or unintentionally overstepping boundaries that may have not been communicated clearly. Having healthy boundaries is essential for your own energetic, physical and mental well-being to know where you draw the line in order to prevent burnout. Try repeating these short, positive affirmations (either in your mind or out loud) to help create healthy boundaries:

My needs are important.
Taking care of my energy is my priority.
I honour myself by honouring my boundaries.
I have the right to self-care.

Simplifying your schedule

Running around and filling your schedule to the brim is a recipe for a frazzled nervous system. Where are you overextending yourself for other people or on tasks that can be rescheduled or cancelled?

Staying away from energy vampires

That person who comes to mind when you feel drained after a simple conversation. This is a sign that they’re taking energy from you, often unintentionally, and are relying on your ability to show up whenever they need to emotionally offload on someone. As much as you may love the person who makes you feel like this, it’s important to have boundaries in place to protect your own health.

Meditation

Daily meditation practice is a wonderful tool for Empath’s to clear or protect your energy and ground your body. Starting your day with a meditation before anyone rises is a great way to approach the day with a clear energy instead of being irritated from the demands of Motherhood.

Grounding your body

A quick grounding and clearing technique that’s also suitable to do with any older kids in the household:

Take a deep, belly breath in. Imagine that it is flowing through the crown of your head.
As you exhale, release any energy that may have been picked up from other people, places, media – energy that doesn’t belong to you.
Feel your feet on the ground (if you can, go outside and do this). Feel your connection to the ground, rooting your body to the earth.
As you inhale again, direct your breath to any area of your body where you may be holding tension or stagnant energy
Repeat until you feel grounded and lighter again.

On the days where you feel you need to improve your energetic health, ask yourself these questions:

Is this my emotion or have I picked it up from someone else?
When was the last time I moved my body?
Have I spent too much time mindlessly scrolling on social media?
Have I been eating nourishing foods?
When was the last time I made time for joy?

You have the power to protect your peace.