When the News Hurts: A Self-Compassion Pause for Highly Empathic People

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If the news is making your chest tight, your throat close up, or your emotions come in waves, you’re not broken—you’re human.

In this video, I share how I’m practicing self-compassion after distressing news, including simple grounding and body-based strategies to help process grief, anger, and overwhelm without forcing yourself to “feel better.”

This is not about bypassing pain or ignoring what’s happening. It’s about recognizing shared humanity, allowing grief, and caring for your nervous system so you don’t become stuck in hopelessness.

This video may be especially helpful for highly empathic people, helpers, and clinicians (including SLPs) who feel deeply impacted by current events and need a compassionate pause.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you’re invited to listen, follow along, or simply take what’s helpful and leave the rest.

Chapters:

00:00 – 04:12 You’re Not Alone in This Response

Naming grief, shock, anger, and why the news affects us so deeply—especially for highly empathic people. Setting permission to feel without fixing.

04:13 – 07:12 A Grounded Self-Compassion Practice

Guided butterfly hug, breathing, and noticing body sensations as they shift. Practicing regulation without forcing calm or bypassing grief.

07:13 – 14:25 Grief, Anger, and Reclaiming What’s Worth Fighting For

Processing collective grief, discharging anger safely, finding moments of comfort, and reconnecting with shared humanity and meaning.

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👉😎 👉DISCLAIMERS:
1) Any medical, scientific, and/or therapeutic information is presented for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. It should NOT be used to diagnose, evaluate, or treat any conditions. If you have a medical and/or diagnostic concern for yourself, family, or friends, please seek help from a licensed professional in your area.

2) The views expressed by The Trauma-Informed SLP (both the Youtube channel and the podcast) belong solely to the host and referenced sources. This content should not be taken as indisputable facts. The Trauma-Informed SLP Youtube channel and podcast are for entertainment purposes only.

👉😎 👉CONTENT WARNING:
If you feel body discomfort, challenging emotions, and/or are otherwise becoming upset watching and/or listening to the material presented, please turn it off, take a break, and do something kind for yourself that has a positive mental health effect on yourself and others.
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👉😎 👉DEFINITION OF TRAUMA PER THE TIP 57 (SAMHSA, 2014):
"...the term 'trauma' refers to experiences that cause intense physical and psychological stress reactions. It can refer to 'a single event, multiple events, or a set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically and emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well being' (SAMHSA, 2012, p. 2).”