Empaths Unite in Blog Time

It's been a minute since I've had a blog. It's been years, chickens. I had one back when I was finishing my first novel (now in a drawer) and starting on "Fans of the Impossible Life." 

"Fans" came out in September, and putting out a book in this day and age means navigating social media and communication, and the social media which doesn't feel much like communication, and a whole lot of info coming at you that isn't about you and your work.

I'm not saying that all of the internet should be about ME and MY WORK. I'm saying, for all of us, the internet is a whole bunch of other people's noise. 

I go back to thinking about empathy and empaths a lot. And although the word "empath" tends to conjure up some new age desert shaman channeling feelings (which, you know, sounds great) I actually believe really strongly that we are all empaths. And that the connotations of that word and the ways in which it sounds too wishy washy to some people to say "I feel and take in the emotions of others around me" keep us from admitting this to ourselves. Which then keeps us from protecting ourselves in the ways that we should. And then we often feel like shit and we don't know why.

I would like to propose that sometimes we feel like shit because we have taken on the needs and hopes and pain of those around us, and decided that it is our own. And it's not. It might look like ours. We might relate to the pain of others. But we need to be more conscious of what is actually ours and what we have taken on. Because the number of people and emotions and motivations and nefarious nonsense coming at you is multiplied exponentially when it comes to dealing with the internet. 

And the only way to combat this is to carve out a little space for yourself. Where you can say "THIS is important to ME." "I believe in THESE things."

If you're not grounded in this, you can't create. And we are all creators. So let's get grounded. And let's make stuff.