Since I was little, I always knew I felt things intensely and intuitively. I was taught as a young child that my sensitivity was a flaw of mine. I was often told I needed thicker skin or called a crybaby by my peers. I felt like I needed to hide this vital part of who I was to please the people around me. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned my sensitivity is what allows me to connect, to feel and inspire myself and others in a deeply positive way. My sensitivity is what makes me who I am: someone who is able to feel deeply in their writing and connections with others.
Over the summer, I was able to read a book called Love Warrior, by Glennon Doyle. The book recounts Glennon’s journey of self-discovery after the implosion of her marriage. Like me, Glennon felt that her sensitivity and deep emotions made her weak; in reality, they made her a warrior. As a young child, I was called “princess warrior” by my mother. Yes, I was delicate and fragile, but this is what also made me strong and brave. The author refers to the word ezer, the Hebrew word for women, as having two roots: strength and benevolence. In essence, the term ezer means warrior. This book teaches young women never to be ashamed of their pain, but rather embrace it as a trait that makes us strong, beautiful, and worthy of love. As I read the words “God created a woman as a warrior” on the page in front of me, I started to tear up. As a Jewish woman, I felt not only connected to my roots, but all women across the world. Empaths and emotional people in our world need to understand that it’s okay to feel deeply. “I’m not a mess but a deeply feeling person in a messy world,” she writes. I became a person who loves my sensitivity and my deep intense feelings about my messy world. I used my pain and heartbreak to harness my desire to make a difference. To help heal my world using the love we share as human beings.
It’s important for young women to love the parts of themselves that may seem flawed, but are really our biggest superpower. Although a sensitive personality comes with heavy emotions, I’ve used this to help others by empathizing deeply with them. Life may be messy as an empath, but it makes life complicated in the most beautiful way.