Psychic Burnout
This is the story of my brief stint as a paid psychic and why I will never work as one again.

The year was 2016. The place was Los Angeles. I was working as a writer and content manager for a start-up company at the time and overall it was not a bad gig. However, my life had been taking a series of weird turns that had led me deeper and deeper into exploring the “other” sides of life. Life outside a stereotypical existence. Together with my sister and a small group of friends, we had formed a kind of small coven dedicated to exploring life’s less trodden paths to the edges of what was typically considered possible. I had been experiencing night terrors, Deja Vu, communicating with spirits and seeing inexplicable things since I was a child, I also have the ability to “predict” certain events. But I had never considered the possibility that these things could be seen as “gifts,” let alone profitable ones until I moved to California and met the right group of people.
If you’ve ever visited LA, or watched enough movies, you are probably at least a little familiar with the classic ‘Psychic Readings’ signs that can be found on just about every block of the city. For some reason, Los Angeles has become a hub for Mediums, Psychics and Fortune Tellers of all kinds. Some attribute this to a peak in spiritual energy that seems to attract people who are enlightened or seeking enlightenment. Perhaps it is just something that has been culturally accepted there for a longer amount of time, and with a population with more disposable income than a lot of other places, the psychic industry shows no signs of diminishing anytime soon.

The first time I wandered into The Psychic Eye Book Shop, I have to confess, I was a little disgusted. Aside from the random mish-mash of tacky trinkets that went hand-in-hand with books that clashed in philosophies and span an odd array of beliefs, there was a line of booths that housed phone psychics, most of which contained an older White woman. I had never encountered such a thing in my life and wondered what could spur someone to pay some random lady on a phone to feed them astrological and philosophical dribble. But hey, to each their own. I made a small purchase from the rude lady at the counter who nearly hissed at the sight of “Nu Witches” and my sister and I left the place with mixed emotions.
Looking back now, this really should have been a red flag. But stupidly, I didn’t really think about it until months later when I had already accepted a position as an online psychic. I had been looking for another freelance gig to pull in extra money and was excited at the prospect of getting to do tarot readings (something I really enjoy doing for people) and talking to people about the things I had learned, like manifestation and spell-casting. I had hoped that maybe, just maybe, I had found my calling. The prospect of being able to help people and make money by doing something I enjoyed was too tempting to pass up. So I gathered my crystals and cards and got to work.
You can probably already guess what happened next: Yeah, it sucked. I am not sure why I was expecting people to come to me wanting some honest advice, because if I have learned anything over the years, it’s that people rarely ever want to hear the truth. (I apologize in advance if this truth is also too much for you to handle, but at the same time… Sorry, not sorry.) What I found when I started trying to talk to people and use my abilities was that all people wanted to hear was exactly what they wanted to hear. Sure, you can make a pretty penny lying to people and telling them exactly what they want to hear and if that’s your bread and butter, well, more power to ya. But for me, it was exhausting. At the end of the night, I was completely burnt out and had been on the verge of tears more than once.

“Is my spouse cheating on me?” Was the most commonly asked question. Sometimes I would try to give honest insight and advice based on what they told me or asked about, but most of the time the people on the other end of the computer screen were little more than trolls. I tried doing tarot readings but half the people were less interested in what the cards had to say and more interested in what color bra I was wearing. But what was even worse than unwanted sexual advances were the people who wanted to torture themselves.
“My husband is cheating on me right now, what does the woman look like? Tell me what they are doing? Is she beautiful? Is he enjoying it?” Girl stop. I thought I was hired to do psychic readings, not be your private investigator. Even if that was how these things worked, which it isn’t, why would you want to sit there and torture yourself with the details? In these cases, I would often try to find some other way to comfort or reassure the person, rather than feed their obsessions but that never satiated them. These people seemed to think that if they asked the same question 15 times, that for some reason I would suddenly give them a different answer. At the end of every day, for as long as I worked for that company, which probably totaled one week, I was more and more depressed.
At the end of it all, the pay was not bad, and I did begin to understand why so many women would not mind spending their time lying to sad, lonely and desperate people on the other end of a phone or computer screen, however, I decided that I could never be one of them. Before you get heated, I am not discrediting these women, their potential abilities, or even why they continue to work for companies like the one I briefly worked for. No, I genuinely believe that a lot of them do actually help and are probably good people. They all had something I wish I had a lot more of: Patience.
What really made me quit was how spiritually burnt out I became. Sharing your beliefs and insight with people can be rewarding, but only when those people actually want to listen. I did not sign up to be a spiritual punching bag and decided to go back to practicing only within my small, selective circles. All in all, it was an experience. One which I never hope to repeat.

