Speaker 1
And yet the more empathic we are, the more we adopt their point of view because their parents are mad at each other. So I'm going to accept their framing of the problem. So this is something that you'll have to be incredibly careful about, that everyone is talking about the benefits of empathy and how we should be more empathic. And all I'm looking for is someone who like is very empathic and supports me and loves me. And, and, you know, if they can't handle me at my worst, they don't deserve me at my best. And since they're, I'm entitled to them handling me at my worst, I'm going to just be my worst all the time, right? Because that's their fucking problem now. And there you are accepting it. You're like, yeah, I want to be a good boyfriend. I want to be a good girlfriend. I should be emotionally available. I should be empathic. I should be supportive. Because if I'm not, I feel guilty. And then that tears me up inside. And I don't want to feel guilty because that makes me a bad person. So I'm going to help them. And I'm not going to set boundaries with them and I'm going to let them walk all over me. Doesn't work. So be very careful about empathy. Recognize that it can damage everything from your relationships to your self-esteem to having you even experience vicarious trauma and learn to set some of these limits. Otherwise, you will go absolutely insane. And then everyone around you who cares about you can go insane with you. Hey, do you like role-playing games? Well, you should check out Mystery Quest. It's an actual play podcast where we focus on all kinds of indie TTRPGs with a rolling cast of special guests. You can find us anywhere where you get your podcasts. I'll see you there.