A cautious, ‘Hi’, here.
My response to Mark, at https://healingyourheartfromwithin.com.au/2019/08/28/empathy/
was becoming rather lengthy so I figured, make a post of it.
I reckon there are others who feel as I do.
Forgive me, Mark, please, for using a comment as a post. Haven’t quite mastered the art of brevity.
Hi Mark, the prodigal Scot is dipping her toes back in WP waters and you’re the first one I came across in my comments. I don’t even know if I’ll read anything else.
No, I’ll visit Beth at Colemining. You and she are two of strong connection. And that might be it.
Some of the lovely people I had met on here don’t figure in my thoughts when I’m away. That’s just life. Fleeting moments of remembrance and brief connection and we move on.
I hardly know why I’ve been away so long but your post has struck a chord.
Empathy.
It’s a bugger for me. Not only me. I was speaking to one of my sons recently and he was feeling emotionally and mentally drained to the point of …not depression…but similar… a hopelessness. He works with troubled young people while also studying at uni. He feels. He feels the world. It’s painful. I tried to explain what you are saying, in your post, but I don’t think I got it myself.
One of my daughters is the same. Mostly, the others of my crew practise a lot of sublimation. Or, maybe they just deal with the part of the world they have any control over and they’re better at separating the two than some of us are. Force them, and they’ll talk. They’ll give their opinions. They’ll tell you their beliefs. But, mostly, they get on with life. And I try to do the same.
But a few of us here struggle with the realities of what is happening all over and fluctuate between action and inaction, depending on how much energy we have left after dealing with life.
Empathy. The drain.
I’m struggling with the world. My own corner of it. What a mess is going on here. That’s kind of why I’ve been absent from WP. I decided to do something instead of writing and talking about it. But I’m not sure that what I’m doing is making any difference. Any more than words would.
Communication, for me, has always been key to dealing with people. Although, frankly, I don’t really relish being with people. It’s like I love humanity but I’m not so fond of it on an individual basis.
Someone once described an introvert as a person who can party hard with everyone else but needs a long time to recover. I rather liked that description. It fits who I am. I’m compelled to deal with people – kids, mostly – all day and, at the end of it, I just want to sit quietly in a corner. But I can’t, for the most part, because life demands and commands.
I began to take a more active role in politics last year, in the belief that actions speak louder than words. I still think that’s the case but those who have the time for action tend not to be holding down a full-time job and managing a household. Something always suffers. My writing has. It has become the last thing I do after everything else.
But it’s been bugging me. The same son I was speaking of earlier told me once, ‘Mum, writing’s a constant for you in your life. You always return to it.’
He gets me. The lass who feels the same also writes – in between living.
And that’s the shitty bit.
Something that constantly returns, but has to be put on hold, suffers neglect because arseholes are making a mess of doing the job they’re supposed to be doing.
I’d have been sacked for less.
And quite rightly.
They have all day, every day, to manipulate the world and I – we – are ants in the middle of it. Working till we drop.
I can’t stop seeing a bigger picture. It’s hazy. But not as hazy as I’d like it to be. All too clear, in lots of ways. And I’m bleeding energy for the state of the world.
What do I do about that, Mark?
How do I make empathy work for me? For the world? Because, right now, all it’s doing is draining me of the hope that has been as constant as the writing.
Thank god, right now, we have the September Weekend – a four-day break from work that’s a Scottish holiday. How I need it!
I had no intention of posting anything on WP. Hasn’t even figured in my mind at all in months. But, your post, Mark, speaks to me. I just don’t get it.
I don’t know how to separate what I think and feel from my energy source. When I think, I feel. When I feel, I’m exhausted.
I need a course on how not to let thinking and feeling drain me.
I need to retire, quite frankly!
But, I’m not going to do that until I see a world fit for my kids. This momma didn’t raise no cannon fodder!
Just tell me how to stop feeling everything and letting it bleed me dry.
If not, tell me a joke so’s I can laugh and move on.
And, I’m only half kidding.
I need a laugh to deal with the bull.
Thank god, I have a few comedians here who keep me smiling despite angst. Great leveller is humour. And so much truth in it too.
(There’s a slight glitch in the video but it only lasts seconds and it’s well worth hearing till the end)
