The more common sentiment I hear from other people is that they feel sympathy perfectly fine, but that they struggle to feel empathy. Is anyone else the opposite? I can fully understand someone’s situation as if it were my own, I can feel the same feelings they do, and I can 100% understand their emotions/thought processes. But I just don’t feel bad for them, as cruel as that sounds. This isn’t how I feel towards everyone, it’s usually just towards people I don’t really like. DAE…?
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Empathy comes naturally to me, there’s no effort. Sympathy feels closer to pity which I can do if I make a conscious effort, but I don’t see how that’s worth it.
Yes this is me
No. Sympathy is a synonym for empathy, they mean basically the same thing.
The older i get, the more I am like this
Oh I don’t feel bad for anyone. I feel bad for feeling this way but I can’t change it. I do have empathy and can understand their plight.
Absolutely. Like, at 10 years old I had enough empathy to explain to my mom how her relationship with my dad was codependent and him moving out would be good for everyone.
But I have very little sympathy for her because she doesn’t try to grow at all. She just numbs the pain then explodes after getting drunk every once in a while. And when she’s throwing up the next day, she always says it’s because she ate something bad…