365

What Can I Say - Carrie Underwood 

Empathy-The ability to co-experience and relate to the thoughts, emotions, or experience of another without them being communicated directly by the individual

Yesterday I was told that empathy is a special talent of mine. It’s true that I have a much bigger capacity for empathy than most people do but I’m not sure how much of a good thing it is. I certainly wouldn’t call it a talent. It’s more like a curse. I’m kept up at night worrying about other peoples’ problems. When I have a friend who is hurting, I hurt. I would do anything to take that pain away from the people I love but I can’t. Instead, I suffer with them. I love caring about people. I can’t imagine ever caring less than I do but some days it gets to be too much. It doesn’t help that people seem to find it easy to confide in me. When they do so, I can feel their pain. I offer my advice when I can. I can’t always help though. I don’t always know the right thing to say or do. All I can offer is a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on. If I was better at helping, maybe I’d call it a blessing. But as is, I’m not sure how much good it does.

Yet, for some reason, I’m always happy to just listen. No matter how many sleepless nights I have, I don’t think that will ever change.