Marriage Counsellor and Psychologist Shivani Misri Sadhoo

Has your partner ever said, “I understand why you feel that way, and I’m here to listen and work through this together”? This simple yet profound statement can be a positive and comforting experience in a relationship, especially during challenging times.

Empaths possess an innate capacity to put themselves in another person’s shoes and understand the feelings of those around them. Empathy can be both a blessing and a challenge. It’s a powerful tool that allows individuals to connect on a deep emotional level, but it also comes with its own set of challenges.

What are the biggest challenges the empaths face in romantic relationships?

Let us find out how empaths deal with their difficulties in relationships from Delhi’s top marriage counsellor and relationship expert Shivani Misri Sadhoo.

1. Self-neglect

Empaths intensely feel their partner’s emotions and often become people-pleasers. They prioritize their partner’s feelings and avoid confronting issues. Self-care takes a back seat as they prioritize their partner’s needs, opinions, and decisions. Escaping this cycle can be tough for empaths, entangled in putting their partner’s needs above their own. Balancing empathy and self-preservation is important for a healthy relationship.

2. Communication is a real challenge

Communication can pose another hurdle for empaths. The intense connection they feel can sometimes make it difficult for them to express their own feelings openly. They may fear burdening their partner with their emotions or struggle to articulate their needs and desires effectively.

Learning to communicate openly and honestly, without letting the fear of overwhelming their partner hold them back, is crucial for a healthy relationship.

3. Lack Of Emotional Boundaries

Empaths have a heightened sensitivity to the emotions of those around them. While this is a beautiful gift, it can also become overwhelming, especially when it comes to romance. The ability to absorb and feel the emotions of their partners can lead to a constant state of emotional flux. They may fail to distinguish between their partner’s feelings and their own, making it hard to maintain emotional boundaries.

4. Fear of Intimacy

Empaths struggle in relationships due to overwhelming closeness. Their heightened awareness absorbs others’ energies, leading to exhaustion. Relationships, already emotional for non-empaths, are even more draining for empaths. Some empaths fear dating or commitment to avoid this emotional overload. They seek ample space—energetic, emotional, and physical—for recovery. Empaths can enjoy relationships by balancing closeness with their need for space, improving their overall experience.

5. Often Too Intrusive

Empaths naturally sense others’ emotions without control. Imagine the constant awareness of your partner’s mood. It’s both a valuable trait and a challenge. Empaths can’t switch off this sensitivity. While partners appreciate the support, it can feel intrusive. Occasionally, they want space to handle a bad day privately. Balancing an empath’s caring nature with respecting personal boundaries can be complex.

6. Attract Narcissists

Empaths often attract strong personalities like narcissists or toxic individuals, but this can harm their well-being. Both empaths and narcissists seek attention, but they express it differently. Empaths focus on caring for others, while narcissists want attention for themselves. This mismatch leads to problems in the relationship. Empaths try hard to please narcissists, who may mistreat them. It’s a cycle with no winners and is tough to escape.

7. Misinterpretations and Conflicts

Empaths are excellent at reading between the lines and picking up on subtle cues. However, their heightened sensitivity can sometimes lead to misinterpretations. They may detect emotions that their partner isn’t explicitly expressing, which can lead to misunderstandings and unnecessary conflicts.

8. Feeling of Loneliness

Empaths may experience loneliness in relationships due to their intense emotional sensitivity. Partners often struggle to comprehend the depth of their feelings, causing isolation. Even caring partners may not fully grasp their emotional needs. For example, needing alone time after a taxing day is a necessity, not a preference. Without solitude, empaths feel drained and unhappy.

Empaths face profound challenges in relationships, juggling intense empathy with self-preservation, communication struggles, emotional boundary issues, and fear of overwhelming closeness. They must overcome these hurdles while seeking a delicate balance between compassion and their own well-being for a truly fulfilling and harmonious connection.

Relationships perhaps always start with wild, head-over-heels feelings of attraction and devotion. On its own, however, love is simply not enough. Shivani Sadhoo reveals some of the most common barriers between you, your partner, and long-lasting passion.

This blog by Couples Therapist Shivani Misri Sadhoo highlights the facts when love is simply not enough.

Ah…love! Certainly, a hot and tricky topic says Shivani—and while many agree that good love takes time and effort, one also needs to know that love falls apart when the ball gets dropped in specific ways.

Everyone says we want it; but once they find it, why is it so damn difficult to keep it?

Here are some ways when you or your partner unwittingly ruin your love.

Brush Aside Past Pain

This one is huge. Once a person passes the age of 16, the possibility of experiencing hurt, disappointment, or betrayal is 100%. Not taking the needed time to feel the pain from your past keeps it alive and present in the here and now. One may love the ones you are with, but you also project all over them.

When you have old pain that has not been processed, you carry it into our present relationship. You cannot skim over or positively think your route out of emotional pain, and when you try to stuff your emotions, you will find a method to make your current partner pay for the past sins or wrongdoings of others because pain wants to be processed. Take care of your past so your present can be happy.

Safeguarding yourself Emotionally

Placing one foot out emotionally to safeguard yourself just in case things do not work out is like trying to constantly drive 40 km/hour while tapping your brake every other minute. You are not going to reach anywhere in love by holding back. Sure, respect your own boundaries, but remember falling in love is simply that—freely falling. Too frequently one experience hurts and never actually lets go again. Take your foot from the brake and trust.

Over – Thinking all the Things

Have you heard the phrase “paralysis by analysis”? Over-thinking and over-analyzing someone’s every word, move or intention dampens any chance of intimacy or connection.

Worrying and attempting to figure out someone’s intention vs taking them at face value is a sign of emotionally functioning from the past in an attempt to stay safe in the present. It is hypervigilance at its best and that best exposes out your worst.  Even if your present lover has hurt you in the past, expecting them to hurt you again certainly guarantees they will because you are hypersensitive vs relaxed and present. Remember, you see what you expect to see—remain and live in the now moment.

Stop Making Eye Contact

It is said and believed that “Eyes are the windows to your soul”.

Let’s accept it, life is busy and over time it becomes far too easy to navigate getting out of the house in the morning without even making eye contact with the one you love. It might sound small, but eye contact is intimate. Intimacy in the bedroom begins with intimate contact throughout the day. Look at each other.

Assume you Know your Loved One Completely

Even if you know each other from their birth, spent every single day together, and have talked for hours, there is no method to know everything about another human being. You are all individuals with individual perceptions, thoughts, and emotional experiences.

People change over time, so never assume that you know completely about your partner’s hopes, dreams, aspirations, and desires. Because the reality is, it’s not possible to know everything about one another no matter how long you’ve been living together.

Stop Touching

The two biggest influences on your sex drive come from your skin and your brain. Relationships are hot initially, because you are touching and kissing, as well as talking and questioning each other—constantly. Stimulation of the brain got covered in the above part, so let us move on to touching.

As time passes, several couples get lazy about touching for no specific reason. When you touch the one you love, the hormone oxytocin is produced and presents a huge opportunity for connection. Oxytocin is just like a powerful love tonic. Talking stimulates your brain, while touching stimulates everything else. Touch each other a lot.

Your Therapist Is Now Just Skype/Video Call Away

During the current challenging time, it’s common to experience anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, and relationship challenges at home. While you are under lockdown and maintaining social distancing norms to help the country to control the pandemic’s spread, your very own counsellor Shivani is now just a call and Skype video call away from you.

However, in this age of coronavirus, we hope to offer our therapeutic help. Change is difficult for all of us and changing the way you meet with your therapist is no exception.  But try it before you disregard this option.  This is a challenging moment in time, and fears and anxieties are running high.

You may find, telepsychology isn’t a second-rate option. Instead, it’s an effective and efficient upgrade to a valuable service!

Feel free to call Counselor Shivani Misri Sadhoo at +91-8860875040 for telephonic or video support and to book an online counselling session to address any relationship issues, emotional and psychological challenges.