ps. I may need to review my definitions of sympathy and empathy, as looking into them now I realize what I said in the video doesn’t make perfect sense. The issue was this: I had to learn to be empathetic with my Lyme friends and be able to listen to them and truly care about what they are going through and try to help as I can, but all this without having it destroy me mentally and without identifying too much with their pain, simply because I know that pain too well and it could kill me if I let it. And because I don’t think it’s fair that I feel better and they don’t all. I created separate buckets in my mind, a bucket for my experience and my pain, one for my Lyme friends, one for how messed up the medical world is, etc., and I work daily at not mixing up all the buckets, as it could come at a great cost for my mental health. Voilà.
Episode 62: Yes, there is healing
ps. I may need to review my definitions of sympathy and empathy, as looking into them now I realize what I said in the video doesn’t make perfect sense. The issue was this: I had to learn to be empathetic with my Lyme friends and be able to listen to them and truly care about what they are going through and try to help as I can, but all this without having it destroy me mentally and without identifying too much with their pain, simply because I know that pain too well and it could kill me if I let it. And because I don’t think it’s fair that I feel better and they don’t all. I created separate buckets in my mind, a bucket for my experience and my pain, one for my Lyme friends, one for how messed up the medical world is, etc., and I work daily at not mixing up all the buckets, as it could come at a great cost for my mental health. Voilà.
The Lyme Chronicles 