How do you balance work, spouse, friends, family, and kids without freaking out, especially if you’re easily overwhelmed?
The secret to thriving as an empath parent is to have strategies in place to counter tension and over-stimulation. Of course, this is important for all parents, but since empaths have a lower threshold for stress, anxiety, and sensory overload, these tools can make or break their sanity and well-being.
In my new children’s book, The Highly Sensitive Rabbit, a caring cottontail named Aroura lives in the High Sonora Desert with her mother and siblings. Aroura’s mother understands the challenges of parenting and worries about her sweet, sensitive child fitting into her world. Sensitivity can be a mixed bag. Though parental empathy psychologically benefits both kids and parents, physical health is a different story.
In the spirit of self-care, an empath parent can practice the following strategies to reduce stress and to stay calm and balanced. Whether you have a partner or are a single parent, they will help you be mindful of how you express your emotions to your kids, while still allowing you to feel deeply.
9 Action Steps to Achieve Balance and Reduce Sensory Overload
1. Start the day with a gratefulness affirmation
This sets a positive, uplifting tone. Inwardly or aloud say, “I am grateful for this day, for my health, for my connection to spirit, and for my kids and family. Thank you for all these blessings. May I stay calm. May I stay happy. May I be loving.”
2. Remember to breathe
Rushing causes you to hold your breath or to breathe shallowly, which traps tension in your body. Throughout your busy day, program yourself to take a least one conscious deep breath periodically to release tension.
3. Create alone time
To counter the demands of raising children, empaths must schedule at least a few minutes alone each day to recharge. Spend some time in nature if you can or at your sacred space at home
4. Listen to soothing music
Music has the power to heal, inspire, and transform tension. It is an instant energy shifter. It helps you and your baby as you rock the little one to sleep. Later, it can be calming for everyone in your home.
5. Meditate
Finding bits of time to meditate breaks the stress cycle and quiets your nervous system. As one empath mother said, “After I mediate, I’m calmer. Then I don’t get pulled into the drama of my son’s tantrums.”
6. Take power naps
If you have young children, you might feel the urge to catch up on laundry while they’re napping. But this is the perfect time for you to take a powernap. Just 5 to 15 minutes will revive you and provide an energy boost that will carry you through the rest of your busy day.
7. Set boundaries
Strive to set clear and enforceable boundaries. There is probably no harder place to create a limit than with your children, but it’s healthy to say, “No” to unreasonable requests and bad behavior.
8. Don’t be a helicopter parent
Empathic parents are highly intuitive and pick up on what their children are feeling and thinking–often to an extreme. As a result, you can become overly anxious, so you hover and micro-manage. This doesn’t serve your kids and can make them anxious and resentful too. Center your own energy
9. Have fun with your kids
Remember what precious beings of light they are, rather than concentrating on annoyances. Focus on the privilege of parenting them. The laughter of your happy children is healing. Let your empathic self release stress and join them in their joy.
Just as Aurora in The Highly Sensitive Rabbit learns how to set healthy boundaries and deal with overwhelm, you too can make changes to be a more empathic and loving parent. In the extraordinary process of child-rearing, remember to be self-compassionate. Realize: You can’t do everything.