Experiencing empathy but not conveying it properly

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Fraser_S
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
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Joined: 15 Jul 2011
Age: 33
Gender: Male
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28 Jan 2024, 1:50 am

For me, this has to be one of the things that hurts the most. Feeling empathetic towards people while they believe we don't feel any empathy for them at all because we can't convey it properly on the surface.

I have the burden of my own emotions and everybody else's on top of it. Yet people just think i'm some empty narcissist or sociopath because I can't physically demonstrate what i'm experiencing inside.

I hate this infliction. :(



autisticelders
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Joined: 23 Feb 2020
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Location: Alpena MI

28 Jan 2024, 6:44 am

yes, I hear you.
The idea that we are not able to empathize has been disproved. We simply have more difficulty communicating what we "feel" .
For years I was told I was unfeeling, uncaring, deliberately cold and cruel.

I sorted a lot of that out after my very late diagnosis and realized that one of my problems early on was that I was punished for showing other emotions (anger, fear, anxiety, jealousy, and so on) I was told early on that my feelings didn't matter. I was to do as I was told no matter what.
So I learned to hide emotions and to try to use reason as the way to communicate and interact with the world.
No winning this one!
As my final days close in I am just learning to find and express my emotions better. Still a work in progress.


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