You Are Not Responsible for Other People’s Emotions

A Somatic Approach to Boundaries, Burnout, and Emotional Regulation

As humans, we inevitably impact each other. Our presence, our energy, and our emotional expressions ripple out into our relationships and communities. But there’s an essential truth that’s often overlooked—especially for caregivers, activists, social workers, and highly sensitive people:

You are not responsible for other people’s emotional experiences.

This is a core principle in somatic therapy and trauma-informed care. While we can hold space, offer empathy, and be responsive to others, we are not meant to fix or carry what isn't ours.

In fact, trying to fix someone else’s emotions often stems from our own discomfort with big feelings—anger, sadness, grief, fear. Rather than support emotional regulation, this dynamic can lead to emotional suppression, disconnect, and emotional burnout.

It’s a common pattern in those doing relational or healing work—whether in therapy, education, activism, or caregiving. And it’s one of the root causes of burnout in social work and healing from activist fatigue.

Trying to process someone else’s emotions for them is like attempting to digest their food. It’s not yours to carry, and it wasn’t meant to move through your body.
This is where somatic healing can be incredibly powerful.

Emotions Need to Move

In somatics, we understand emotions as energy in motion. They have a natural rhythm—rising, peaking, and falling—if they’re allowed to flow. But when emotions are suppressed, interrupted, or carried by someone else, they can get stuck in the body.

That stuck energy can lead to chronic stress, compassion fatigue, and dysregulation in our nervous systems.

This is why nervous system healing and somatic resilience practices are foundational for those doing emotional labor or working toward sustainable social change.

You cannot heal or process someone else’s emotions. But you can regulate your own nervous system, stay grounded in your body, and offer a compassionate presence without absorbing what’s not yours.

Holding Space Without Holding the Weight

Letting someone have their emotional experience doesn't mean you’re abandoning them. On the contrary, embodied activism and trauma-informed boundaries allow for deeper, more authentic connection.

You can support others in processing their emotions—by offering safety, presence, and co-regulation—without becoming a container for their pain.

This is where somatic therapy techniques and nervous system regulation exercises come in.
Practices like grounding, orienting, movement, breathwork, and tracking sensations help build emotional awareness and resilience.

Reclaiming Your Energy

When we stop carrying what isn’t ours, we make space to tend to our own emotional landscape.
We become more present, more regulated, and more assertive about our needs.
We learn how to set boundaries without guilt.
We begin to heal from chronic stress, emotional burnout, and over-responsibility.

This is the heart of anti-capitalist self-care—choosing restoration over depletion, presence over productivity, sustainability over self-sacrifice.

And when we’re more connected to ourselves—through embodiment, nervous system support, and somatic awareness—we actually have more capacity to support others in ways that are healthy and reciprocal.

We become better listeners. We become safer people.

We build stronger, trauma-informed relationships rooted in respect and co-regulation.

Whether you're a social worker, caregiver, activist, or simply someone who feels deeply—this is your reminder:

✨ You are allowed to let go of what isn’t yours.
✨ You are allowed to tend to your own experience.
✨ You are allowed to take up space, set boundaries, and return home to your body.

Let the emotions that are yours move through. Let the ones that aren’t pass by.

You don’t need to carry the world to make a difference in it.

If you're searching for somatic coaching, curious about somatic practices for burnout, or want to work with a somatic coach for trauma healing, reach out—I’d love to support you on your path toward embodied healing and sustainable change.