Energy vampires can be anyone we know in just about any capacity. They are family, friends, co-workers, and strangers. An energy vampire is unable to create their own positive life, so they feed off of other people’s energy and literally drain them.
How do I know what to look for?
I am going to give you the main ones to look out for but keep in mind the list is actually kinda endless. There are various levels of vampirism, so I listed the ones that affect you the most.
First you have the gossips.
We all vent to friends about a person or a situation from time to time but these are people who seem to know everyone’s business (or think they do) and tell anyone and everyone. Keep in mind that if they are gossiping to you then there is a good chance that they are also gossiping ABOUT you as well.
Jealousy and insecurity
These two traits really do go hand in hand. When you are jealous, you’re never genuinely happy for anyone else and often try to find a reason to gossip about them or belittle them to others. To strive for something is wonderful, but to be jealous and bitter makes you a toxic vampire. The insecurity vampire will try squash your self-esteem and bring you down to where their energy resides. This is a really easy one to fall victim to since they are usually really good manipulators.
Guilt Tripping
Oh how we know these guys really well. The ones that will try to guilt you in to doing whatever they want you to do based on what they believe in. There is a lot of gaslighting that comes along with this one. They really start making you feel like you’re not a good person if you don’t do whatever it is they are trying to guilt you into doing. This one will just suck you dry if you allow it. You have the ability to tell someone no and not feel guilty. If you allow yourself to be guilted then you are allowing this type of vampire to drain you without much effort.
Negative Nellies
These guys are in abundance in our lives. Negative people will be drama queens, fun ruiners, short tempered, complainers etc. To be fair, some of these people have no idea that they are sucking you dry. They will want to always be right, have poor communication, hear what they want to hear, try to correct you and are extremly judgemental . They need to comment something negative regardless of what the situation is. They will also radiate towards other negative vampires, so be careful to not allow yourself to be drained by them.
How can I evaluate my relationships?
Well the key here is to look at each relationship individually but always use the same criteria to evaluate if the relationship is worth staying in.
Every relationship will have good and bad times. I always tell people who if you are unhappy more than you are happy then you need to evaluate if you want to continue giving your energy to this relationship.
Can you trust the person? Can you tell them anything and not be judged? Can you share with them your secrets and plans and not worry they will judge or gossip about it? If the answer to that is a hard no then the relationship is very toxic and you should not give one more second to that relationship. If you are uncertain then you need to go back and evaluate if you have more good or bad times in that relationship.
Does that person support you? When you tell them about what you’re doing do they encourage your endeavors or always find a way to make you second guess it? Do you feel as though they value you even when you don’t benefit them at the moment. Do they check on you and just say hello for no reason? Are you in a one-sided relationship giving 80% of your energy to their 20%. When you are exhausting energy trying to keep the relationship going then you are donating your energy their vampirism.
Do they let you be you? A person that should be in your energy tribe will allow you to be who you are all the time. They will allow you to be weird, strange, funny, quirky and different and fully embrace that. These people are quality people who enhance you and make you feel supported and free. If someone doesn’t allow you to be you then please by all means turn around and run for the hills.
How do I make sure I am not an energy vampire?
We have all been vampires at some point and time. The traits of an energy vampire are really broad and can be demonstrated in many ways. The best way to avoid sucking someones energy is to avoid being
- Judgemental
- Jealous
- Gossiper
- Negative
- Insecure
- Angry
just to name a few. Accept people for who they are, not who you think they should be. You will find that when you start working on yourself and avoiding the negativity that you will not only not be a vampire but will also start finding joy in your own life. When this happens, you automatically put a positive energy bubble around you protecting you from the vampires of the world.
You have the capability of being a conduit of positive energy. When you become a positive balanced human, the energy vampires will never be allowed to pull from you again.
