Not sure who needs to hear this but I have tons of empathy as an autistic person. Too much for my own good sometimes. I feel empathy so much sometimes it depresses me hard that I have no control over helping everyone be okay.
It may come out differently in a moment or it might be a delayed response because I of course have to think out every piece of info I receive…but I do feel deeply empathetic. And the way I express this most often is by relating to it somehow and explaining what I have personally experienced. Some call this my “love language”. Others misunderstand this as being self involved or selfish. “Why are you talking about yourself right now? This isn’t about you.” You’re right. I’m not saying it to be about me. I’m relating and trying to let the person now I really do understand them.
I also have a very strong sense of justice. I hate seeing people or animals be hurt or treated unfairly..SO MUCH. I see red if it happens in front of me. I’m certain those close to me have experienced my reaction at one point of another throughout my life. And seeing red is very overwhelming for me. I react and then I am physically and emotionally affected hard by my reaction and what I feel. It is very overwhelming and one incident can take months to recover from.
When it’s done to me though…I shut the F down. I run. I escape. I need time to process the bad and things I don’t understand that has just occurred and I can not process as quickly as others do so my reaction is to find a safe place. I literally go blank and just need to remove myself from what feels overwhelming. I feel so many things in moments like these and this too can take months to not only let go of but to process it all. Imagine going your entire life not understanding what was happening to you in these moments. Just thinking you were weirdly over sensitive and couldn’t handle things that others could without a second thought about it. You believe you are broken somehow. But what you really are is autistic. Your brain processes things differently.
You Had To Be There… 