Congratulations, You Feel Everything is for anyone who's ever cried at commercials, absorbed a stranger's mood, and needed a nap after brunch because everyone's emotions somehow became yours.
Being an empath means having emotional WiFi that never disconnects. This book isn't about "fixing" your sensitivity—it's about embracing it without burning out.
Through stories you'll swear you could've written, humor that hits too close to home, and advice that actually works, you'll discover how to:
● Set boundaries without the guilt spiral
● Navigate emotional tsunamis without drowning
● Return other people's baggage with a firm "not my circus, not my monkeys"
● Transform your empathy from exhaustion into strength
If you've ever whispered "why am I like this?" while feeling everyone's feelings, this book is your new best friend.
Your empathy isn't broken—it's your superpower. Let's get you a cape that doesn't weigh a thousand pounds.
Congratulations, You Feel Everything is for anyone who's ever cried at commercials, absorbed a stranger's mood, and needed a nap after brunch because everyone's emotions somehow became yours.
Being an empath means having emotional WiFi that never disconnects. This book isn't about "fixing" your sensitivity—it's about embracing it without burning out.
Through stories you'll swear you could've written, humor that hits too close to home, and advice that actually works, you'll discover how to:
● Set boundaries without the guilt spiral
● Navigate emotional tsunamis without drowning
● Return other people's baggage with a firm "not my circus, not my monkeys"
● Transform your empathy from exhaustion into strength
If you've ever whispered "why am I like this?" while feeling everyone's feelings, this book is your new best friend.
Your empathy isn't broken—it's your superpower. Let's get you a cape that doesn't weigh a thousand pounds.
Ever cried during a commercial? Felt guilty for skipping a group hangout to recharge? Absorbed someone’s stress like a sponge? Congratulations, you might be an empath.
But let’s take it up a notch. Have you ever teared up when a movie character lost their dog, even though you’ve never owned one? Or cried because your friend’s friend (whom you’ve never even met) got dumped? Been there. Or maybe you’ve felt physically exhausted after listening to someone vent for an hour, like you just ran an emotional marathon you didn’t sign up for. (No medal, just emotional baggage.)
For me, the moment I knew for sure? It was when I cried at a Publix commercial, yes, a grocery store ad, because the fictional family in it just seemed so happy. Specifically, it was the one where a stepfather, Chris, spends years supporting his stepdaughter, Grace, through life’s milestones. Despite his unwavering presence, she always calls him by his first name. Then, on her wedding day, she looks at him and says, “Thanks, Dad.” Cue my emotional meltdown at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday. That’s when I realized, okay, maybe feeling everything isn’t everyone’s default setting, just mine.
I sat there, emotionally wrecked in my car, wondering if other people also needed to take a moment after a grocery store commercial. Spoiler: they don’t. But that’s the thing about being an empath, you don’t just see emotions; you absorb them. You feel the weight of someone else’s joy, heartbreak, or even fictional step-parent bonding like it’s happening to you. And once I realized that, everything started making a lot more sense.
The Fine Line Between Feeling and Absorbing
There’s a profound difference between experiencing your own emotions and absorbing someone else’s, though as an empath, that line often blurs until it’s nearly invisible. Your emotions rise from within, shaped by your experiences, thoughts, and needs. They belong to you. But the emotions you absorb? They enter sideways, like uninvited guests settling into your body and mind as if they’ve always been there.
I remember sitting across from a friend who was describing her anxiety about a job interview. Halfway through our conversation, my heart was racing, my palms were sweating, and I felt a knot of dread in my stomach. I’m so nervous about this interview, I found myself thinking, before catching myself. Wait. I don’t have an interview. This isn’t my anxiety. I was wearing hers like a borrowed sweater that somehow fit perfectly. Learning to ask “is this feeling mine?” became the first step in understanding where I ended and others began, a question that has saved me from countless emotional hangovers.
Welcome To the Emotional Amusement Park
Empathy is like having a VIP pass to everyone’s emotional rollercoaster, but sometimes, you didn’t even want to go to the amusement park. It’s exhilarating to share in someone’s joy, but when their stress, sadness, or frustration hits you like a wave, it’s a different story. And let’s be real, sometimes, you’d give anything to hop off the ride for a while.
Yet, empathy is also a gift that connects us. Imagine having front-row seats to someone’s emotional world, complete with backstage access to the feelings they don’t say out loud. It’s what makes you the person friends call when they need advice, the one who notices when someone is struggling, even when they insist they’re fine. (Spoiler alert: they’re never actually fine.)
But there’s a flip side: empathy isn’t just about heartwarming connections and emotional insight. It can feel like carrying an overstuffed emotional backpack, yours and everyone else’s. Sometimes, it’s like trying to stream every emotional experience in HD, all at once, with no buffer time. Exhausting, right?
A Quick Peek into the Science of Empathy
Here’s where things get even more interesting: Empathy isn’t just some mystical emotional sixth sense, it’s hardwired into your brain. There’s this thing called the mirror neuron system (don’t worry, we’ll dive into the nerdy details later), which essentially lets your brain mimic the emotions of the people around you.
When someone smiles, your brain responds as if you’re smiling too. When someone is anxious, your brain picks up on that stress signal like an unprotected Wi-Fi network you didn’t mean to connect to.
This explains why empathy can feel so automatic and overwhelming. Your brain is constantly scanning and syncing up with the emotional frequencies around you, like an emotional Bluetooth device, always connected, even when you don’t want to be.
When Empathy Turns into Exhaustion
Let’s be honest, feeling this much all the time can be exhausting. Not just physically, but the kind of tired that seeps into your bones. Like running an emotional marathon every single day, without a finish line. And no, there’s no emotional Gatorade to fix it.
I’ll never forget one time at work when a coworker was having a rough day. She didn’t say a word, but I could feel the emotional storm cloud hovering over her. So naturally, I spent the whole day tiptoeing around her feelings, offering help, cracking jokes, and trying to ease whatever invisible burden she was carrying. By the end of the day, she was fine. Me? I went home, collapsed on my couch, and questioned every decision I’d ever made while eating ice cream straight from the carton.
Empathy fatigue is real. Sometimes, it feels like being an emotional Wi-Fi hotspot that never turns off. You’re constantly connected to everyone’s emotional networks, and let me tell you, some people have terrible emotional bandwidth.
Even simple tasks can become overwhelming. Running errands? Forget it. One trip to Target, and you’ve absorbed the frustration of the mom with three screaming kids, the heartbreak of the person texting through tears, and the stress of the cashier who just wants their shift to end. Suddenly, you’re sitting in the parking lot wondering why you feel like you just lived through the season finale of This Is Us.
So, What’s the Point of This Book?
Here’s the good news: Managing empathy doesn’t mean turning it off. It means learning when to say “no,” when to step back, and when to let someone else carry their own emotional baggage for once. And trust me, figuring that out is a game-changer.
That’s where this book comes in, I’m here to walk you through my journey and the lessons I’ve learned. I’ve done the hard work of navigating empathy, so you don’t have to. Honestly, I wrote this book because I needed this book.
Most books I found either felt too clinical, "Let’s examine the neurobiological substrates of empathy" (yawn), or too vague, "Just protect your energy!" (Great, thanks. But how?). I wanted something in between: a book that feels like having coffee with a friend who gets it but also leaves you with practical tools to survive the emotional rollercoaster of being an empath.
What You’ll Find Inside
Think of this as your guide to embracing empathy without letting it run (or ruin) your life. There will be humor (because if we don’t laugh about crying at pet commercials, what are we even doing?), real-life examples from my own journey (yes, even the embarrassing ones), and practical tips you can actually use, from setting boundaries to recognizing when your emotional battery is running on 1%.
We’ll cover:
•How to protect your energy without feeling like a heartless monster
•The signs of empathy burnout (and how to avoid it)
•How to say no without spiraling into guilt
•The science behind why you feel everything so intensely
•How to use your empathy as a strength rather than a burden
This book is your survival guide to living as an empath in a world that constantly demands more. You’ll learn how to protect your energy, build boundaries, and embrace empathy as the incredible superpower it truly is, without burning out in the process.
So, are you ready to embrace your empathy superpower without letting it drain you? Let’s do this, cape not required!
This book had me from the title, because yes, I do feel everything, and honestly, it’s exhausting. If you've ever cried during a cute animal advert or walked into a room and immediately felt the tension like a punch in the face, this book is for you.
What I loved most is how real it feels. Katya writes like a friend who really gets is and she somehow manages to be both hilarious and comforting at the same time. There’s no fake positivity or “just meditate more” advice. Instead, it’s full of genuinely helpful tips on how to set boundaries, protect your energy, and stop carrying everyone else’s emotional baggage like you’re running a lost-and-found for feelings.
The metaphors are gold. There’s one about returning other people’s emotional suitcases that made me laugh and also immediately rethink how I deal with guilt and other people’s drama. The section on boundaries? A life-saver. I’ve always struggled with saying no without spiralling into guilt, and this book gave me permission to stop apologising for needing space and prioritising myself sometimes when I need to.
My only small critique is that it’s more of a pep talk than a deep dive. Sometimes I wanted it to slow down and unpack things a bit more, especially around emotional burnout. But honestly, that didn’t really take away from how helpful it was overall.
If you’re an empath or a sensitive person trying to survive in a world that constantly feels like it's all just too much, this book will feel like someone finally turned on the light. It won’t magically make your sensitivity go away (and it shouldn’t), but it will help you hold it differently and look at situations in a different, and more frank way than before.
I definitely recommend this one, not my usual genre but one I'm really glad I picked up!