Compassion fatigue describes the gradual numbing that can follow sustained exposure to other people's suffering, whether through direct caregiving work or simply through a steady diet of distressing news, a natural protective response that nonetheless leaves a person caring less than they otherwise would. This becomes clearer with practice than it ever does through explanation alone.
Guarding against it usually means building in deliberate limits: rotating between difficult and restorative activities, taking genuine breaks from exposure rather than pushing through indefinitely, and paying attention to early warning signs, irritability, detachment, exhaustion, before they harden into something considerably harder to reverse later.
Recognising compassion fatigue as a normal, predictable response rather than a personal failing tends to make it easier to address directly, since a person who understands what is happening is more likely to actually take a needed break rather than pushing through out of guilt or a sense of obligation alone.