The Complexity of Empathy

• 𝕰𝖒𝖕𝖆𝖙𝖍𝖞 •

𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙚 : 𝙊𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙈𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙄𝙣 2023.

Feelings? What exactly are they? My name is Mirko, and these so-called sentiments did not exist when I was younger. I didn't feel anything; all I could think about was how anxious I was.

Anything I could recall was either apathetic or disturbing. I didn't believe it was so important at the time to have these so-called emotions that every youngster experiences.

With the support of my mother and a friend, I gradually began to form feelings. My friend was all sunshine and butterflies, and I had no idea why she would befriend me; after all, I was the antisocial student in our class. Why would anyone want to befriend such people?

I progressively felt uncertainty, hatred, sadness, serenity, and bliss. It felt amazing to feel everything instead of all the emptiness around me. I wasn't sure why I hadn't felt this sooner. Maybe I was afraid of growth?

On Christmas that year, I felt everything. I didn't comprehend what all the joy, smiles, and want to contribute meant at the time. Now, I believe I do; that was the beginning of my empathy. Frankly, I don't think it was that simple to feel empathy; perhaps after feeling everything I've felt and going through everything I've gone through, I could feel it? I'm still uncertain.

And what exactly is empathy? Empathy, in my perspective, is the understanding of another person's thoughts and feelings. It's like you can empathize with what they're going through, and since you can, you can also help them.

Being an empath, on the other hand, is a person who experiences other people's feelings as their own; they do not need to relate to comprehend. This, however, can work for both negative and good emotions such as joy, fear, excitement, and sadness.

Empathy isn't always a wonderful thing; I could feel every emotion around me and it affects me; I tried to get control over empath, but I don't think it helped. Why you might ask? Because I burst into tears when I spotted an elderly lady eating alone at a restaurant. Now that I think about it, it's kind of pathetic.

I'm not sure when, but at some time in my life. It was fantastic once I got hold of it! I didn't feel everything all at once, which gave me the sensation that I was malfunctioning a little. I'm not a robot or anything, but that's one way to put it.

Many individuals could believe, "Well, she can sense everyone's feelings? That's fantastic, isn't it? She can console them if they are sad, and so on!". That is not at all the case. Certainly, I can sense their emotions through their behaviours and words, and I can try to comfort or console them as a result. But every now and then, I just need a break for myself.

With all of this going on, I'm not sure what my emotions are right now. Thus, if I can, I isolate myself in my room for an extended length of time. It feels wonderful to finally get a break, but good things don't last forever.

Some of the ways it can be bad for me and others are that I can feel other people's anxiety, I might cry if someone else cries, some people may not understand my empathy is stronger than others, empath can be draining and make me tired or stressed out, and goodness, that's what I struggle with the most.

Empathy. Isn't it cool? Sometimes it feels great, and other times I'm not sure? To summarize, empathy is beneficial when you can experience everything around you, including despair, doubt, and so on. It's not a pleasant sensation.

It felt like I could easily fit in after a few years of "getting to know" empathy. Empathy no longer has a hold on me; I now have control over it. It's finally going well, and I'm pleased. These last few years have been stressful and perhaps a little too much for me, but that's life, and I'll get over it.

It's not as simple as you believe to get over things. During those years... My grandmother died of cancer; it pains me to know that I didn't spend as much time with her as I should have, but I'm grateful she's in a better place, and I'll gradually move on. But I'm not going to be able to get over her. It does hurt. Yet, this is life, and life does not stop me, Mirko.

After that occurrence, I will never let life dominate me again. That will never happen to me. I've been there, and it felt like hell on earth. I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through, so if I know someone has empathy...

That person will receive assistance from me in some form. It's not a requirement, and no one expects me to do it. It may feel like that, but I intend to accomplish it. I want to assist as many people as possible, regardless of whether they have empathy or not. It makes no difference at all.

It's like the saying goes, "As empaths, our high level of sensitivity means that we are prone to feeling like eternal outsiders who are in the world but not quite of the world." - Aletheia Luna

With that, the story ends here, and Mirko is out.