10/12/2025
Lesson #193: You're not the party healer. You can take the night off.
You know that thing where you go for a simple catch-up and somehow end up running an emotional workshop at the table. People slide their secrets across to you like tarot cards. You clock the energy in the room before you even sit down. You are scanning, soothing, translating, and holding the vibe together like it is your unpaid job. By the time you get home, you are wrecked, and everyone else is lighter. Familiar
Here is the truth. Just because you can read a room does not mean you are responsible for fixing it. Your sensitivity is a gift, but it is not community infrastructure. You are allowed to let a conversation be a bit awkward without rushing in to rescue it. You are allowed to let someone else be the supportive friend for once. You are even allowed to be the messy one who needs a debrief and a snack and a cry. Being intuitive does not cancel out your right to be human.
Next time you walk into a space, try this tiny reframe in your own mind. I am not the healer tonight; I am just a person here. Notice what softens when you let that be true. Maybe you answer in shorter sentences. Maybe you do not ask the extra question that opens a 40-minute trauma download. Maybe you leave when your body first gets tired instead of when everyone else is done with you. That is not you being cold. That is you giving your energy a night off so the rest of you can breathe.