How do I protect myself emotionally when I mediate between people in conflict?

Sitting between people at war and staying neutral is harder than most people guess. You hold the calm center while both sides pour their anger into the room, and a lot of it soaks into you. Being surprised by the toll does not mean you are bad at the job. It means you are doing it with a real heart. Neutrality is not the same as absorbing. You can stay fair to both sides without becoming the sponge for both sides' pain. Try to hold the role a little more lightly: you are the steady walls of the room, not the ground where their conflict lands. Their fight is real, but it is theirs. Your job is to guide it, not to carry it. Give yourself real recovery between the hard ones. Decompress on purpose, talk to someone about the weight, and keep watch for the day it starts to feel like too much, because in this work that day can sneak up. Protecting your own steadiness is not selfish. It is the only way you stay useful to the people who need you calm.