Coming Out — Again: My Empath Awakening

Spiritual Awakening or Nervous Breakdown? My Empath Origin Story

Before 2019, I thought I had already “come out.” I had made peace with being different, or so I told myself. But there was another layer waiting to crack open - one I didn’t see coming. This time, I wasn’t coming out as queer. I was coming out as an empath.

It sounds poetic now, but at the time, it felt more like a nervous breakdown than a spiritual awakening. My emotional body revolted. I cried for days - no, months - in ways I didn’t fully understand. And the more I tried to hold it together, the more everything inside me unraveled.

What I didn’t know then was that I had a completely open emotional solar plexus in Human Design - and a mostly open G center. Translation? I’d spent years absorbing other people’s emotions like a sponge and calling it “normal.” I thought I was good at handling life. Turns out, I was just really good at repressing.

The first clue something deeper was happening came through art. In the middle of the purge, I started painting self-portraits - I called the series The Way I Feel. It was messy, raw, and painfully honest. I didn’t have words for what I was going through, but the brush did. Each piece was a timestamp in my grief and unraveling. That’s when I stopped pretending I was fine.

Thankfully, I wasn’t alone. I met a friend - Paul Willis — who gently guided me into the work. No fixing. No spiritual bypassing. Just, “I think it’s time we talk about your emotional solar plexus.” That one invitation cracked something wide open in me. What followed was months of crying, healing, releasing - and yes, a few float tank sessions that felt like energetic surgery.

Later, I found Michelle Sinclair, a hypnotherapist who helped me stop recycling grief I no longer needed. I had become so used to crying that it had turned into an identity. But healing doesn’t always mean reliving. Sometimes, it just means being willing to look — gently, honestly, with love.

This wasn’t a straight line. It still isn’t. Healing moves in spirals. There are still days I feel like I’m drowning in emotion - but now I know how to come back to myself. I know how to tell what’s mine and what’s not. And most importantly, I no longer feel ashamed of my sensitivity. Because sensitivity, I’ve learned, is intelligence.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re too emotional, too weird, too much - you’re not broken. You may just be waking up. And you don’t have to do it alone.

I made a video that tells the full story of The Great Purge — my empath origin story — and how I came out (again). I hope it reminds you that you’re not alone, and that every breakdown has the potential to become a breakthrough.

-Christopher Box

Explore more:  

Shop my art & candles: https://www.theheartdivision.com/  

Visit us in Eureka Springs, AR

Paul Willis Energy: https://www.paulwillisenergy.com/

Michelle Sinclair - The Healing Institute: https://therealhealinginstitute.com/