So what’s an energy vampire? These are people in your life — business, friends, coworkers, partners, strangers — who drain your emotional energy. They feed on your willingness to listen and care for them, leaving you exhausted.
Energy vampires can maliciously suck every ounce out of you — mental energy, your time and resources, emotions, money — just to name a few.
I’m going to talk about 4 types of energy vampires that exhaust you in this article.
Before we go into the various types, let’s briefly review the history of vampires.
The region of Transylvania, located in central Romania, has been shrouded in myth and mysteries for centuries.
This storied region undoubtedly developed such a fascinating and sinister reputation over the years.
Bring up Transylvania in most conversations and it’s likely to conjure images of blood sucking fiends, creepy castles, Dracula, and…well, you get the rest.
Above everything else, Transylvania is best known to be home of bloodthirsty vampires.
Vampires are vile beings. It’s safe to say that you don’t want to find yourself anywhere near one.
A vampire is a being from folklore that subsists by feeding on the vital force of the living.
The fascination with vampires
Vampires continue to influence modern day pop culture.
Examples include Halloween costumes and Hollywood movies like Interview with the Vampire, Twilight and Transylvania Movies.
So what’s the connection between vampires and energy? Energy vampires are not the literal blood-sucking beings you see in the movies…but they do suck the life out of you whenever they can.
As it turns out, these vile creatures — energy vampires — manifest themselves in different forms and continue to feed off their victims “blood.”
The new breed of vampires
Have you ever wondered where time has gone, who you are surrounded by, or what you are doing in life? We all do at some point in our life.
If we’re really honest with ourselves, you are probably nodding your head and hoping you have it figured out soon.
The concept of vampires inspired me to think of everything that is unproductive, causing us angst, and leaving us exhausted after every encounter.
I want to discuss the different type of vampires and hopefully together we can slay them!
All energy vampires share one consistent trait, they leave you drained and exhausted…and maybe with a little less self-esteem. We feel worse about ourselves after every interaction.
The 4 types of Energy Vampires
Mindset Vampires
You read, watch, and hear a lot about having a positive mindset. And that mindset can change your trajectory.
I have met many people throughout my career who are so beaten down by friends and family to a point of zero worth. They don’t have the passion and desire to do anything — even if they’re really good at something. Why?
Because everyone around them have sucked the positive mindset out and filled it with decay and cobwebs. The disease has spread so deep that no matter how intelligent or creative — there’s no more energy to continue.
But beware those who attempt to sabotage your mindset. They are actively metaphorically sucking the energy out of your once strong and active mind.
Changing the way you think: Necessary to Impossible
These are people who scoff at you when you talk about your desire to change the way you see the world, alter the way you think, or transform your approach to situations.
If you’re quiet, you can hear the Mindset Vampires whispering “You don’t have to change a thing, just keep on doing what you’re doing” as they smile their big, fangy, time-sucking smiles.
Even worse is you already know what you are doing isn’t working, and you need to seriously change the way you think — mindset shift.
This type of energy vampire gets us in trouble as you wreck your brain from trying to decode whether your thoughts are aligned, cohesive, or out of whack.
These mindset vampires is the type of energy vampire that will have you doubting yourself as they have all the words to suffocate you.
Time Vampires
Whether in business or life, this type of “vampire” will seek to use your time with no regard to your priorities.
They come in many shapes and forms — digital, human, or mobile devices. Energy vampires exist in different forms. Identifying the medium that’s sucking your energy out of your life is what you need to focus on.
They will prey on anyone. It doesn’t matter if you are young, old, parents, students, rich or poor…they are coming for you! Energy vampires that suck your time care only about one thing — wasting your time!
They show up whenever they want to and expect you to available at their beck and call.
Time vampires kills your productivity by sucking away your most precious asset — time.
Humans are social creatures. And this is the reason why your family and co-workers love engaging in conversations.
Regardless of your schedule and workload, time vampires will come at you to seek interaction — and chip away at your time to get accomplish your tasks.
One of the worse time vampires is your smartphone. Why? Because it’s the gateway to meaningless videos, social notifications, and worse of the lot, text messages.
Text messages from friends and family can waste more time that you realize. Especially the ones that are chalk full of drama. Yes, you know what I’m referring to.
I’ve seen firsthand, how drama-filled text messages waste countless hours…not from reading what was sent, but the aftermath.
It’s usually followed by a phone call with senseless arguments, stress, and the rest is history — hours of unproductive activities results in lost and wasted time.
Emotional Vampires
This breed of vampire can sneak up on you like a wolf in the night.
If you have a weak and negative mindset, you are the ideal victim of the emotional vampires. They will prey on you and feed off your emotional weakness.
These vampires manifest in the form of humans or content you consume on social media, TV shows, movies, and other forms of media.
Unfortunately, there are people who exhaust and drain you emotionally. They push you to your limit without adding any value — only to pile on unnecessary stress.
Emotional vampires don’t realize how exhausting they are. Why? Because they are usually self-absorbed people who only care to express how they feel towards you with no regard to how you feel.
To make things worse, they have absolutely no interest in your feelings because of their entitlement.
They hold on to grudges, make assumptions, and create their own reality — so that they can justify their actions.
On the surface, these people may seem like they are providing emotional support — whether it’s family or friends.
However, they have unspoken intentions to manipulate your emotions to forward their agenda.
Left unchecked, these emotional vampires will have your life taken out through a 1,000 tiny cuts as they drain you.
Financial Vampires
Do you remember the time when a friend or family asks to borrow money?
And they get more comfortable asking again, and again, and again.
It leaves you wondering, if they will ever stop. The truth is, they won’t. Some people call them money leeches, or free-loaders.
Financial vampires attach themselves to you. They manipulate you to into situations. They start laying guilt trips on you to get money from you — whatever the amount is.
As a result, you feel obligated to open your wallets — and in some extremes putting yourself in a financial bind.
We live in a materialistic world.
Consequently, people will spend all the money they have to acquire the latest gadgets, flaunt on luxurious goods, and spend money on more than they need.
Some people feel having a fancy car defines their social status. But because of a wrong mindset, they fail to realize that every body gets from point A to point B regardless of what car they drive.
The things we feel we MUST HAVE, are killing us. We are allowing inanimate objects seduce us with the allure of being someone we are not.
These financial vampires will leave your finances in ruin. And after they are done with you — they will move on to another victim.
Slay those vampires
If you are still with me, I’m going to share some practical ways to slay all these Vampires.
I will be the first person to tell you that it will not be easy.
You will never slay them all at once, and it can take a long time before they are all banished.
In fact, I believe that part of taking control is figuring out how to monitor and recognize their behavior so that you can coexist with them.
It’s my belief if you don’t have a plan for your life, you will be left to be part of someone else’s plans.
And that’s definitely not in your best interests.
If you slip along the way, don’t beat yourself over it — it’s a mental strength game. And your willpower and resolve will level up after each fight — win or lose.
Your thoughts may still take trips to Transylvania, but at least you know now you are equipped to drive a STAKE into their “hearts.”
