Are you a good listener? You might be an empath and you may be in trouble.

If your whole life, complete strangers have been routinely sharing their innermost secrets with you. Panhandlers single you out in a group and energy vampires like narcissists are attracted to you like catnip. You are probably highly empathic.

If you don’t know what an empath is, it’s someone who is highly sensitive to the emotions and energy of others. They tend to be very intuitive, compassionate, and people sense that they are good listeners, non-judgmental, and have a calming presence. This is what makes them feel safe opening up to It’s like they instinctively know you’ll understand them, even if you don’t say much.

Being empathic is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand you’ll have deeper richer relationships, understand and get along with people better personally and professionally….but there’s literally a target on your back. People with Narcissist personality disorder crave attention and feed on attention energy, to them you’re a limitless supply and they will suck you dry if you allow it. If you pair up with a Narc, you’ll find a few things.

• The conversation always seems to be about them.

• Your turn to talk never comes.

• If you try to turn the conversation away from the Narc, they get angry or passive aggressive.

• If you do get to speak (usually in the lovebombing phase) you sense they aren’t really listening.

If you find this going on, it’s best you cut ties and run the other way. The longer you stay in a relationship with a Narc the uglier it gets.