Sunday :: 9 May 2021

• seeking.empathy

  

  Seattle, WA
  10 April 2021 :: iPhone 12 Pro Max :: f/2.4 1/666s :: ISO-25

  Dear Stranger;

  Some days I wonder what's it like to have someone feel so proud or so happy for you that it moves them to tears. I know, I've just watched "Free Solo" and, along with all of the other things I've watched during this year of quarantine is how much it moves me to see people succeed or to receive praise for things they've done–whether they've felt they deserved it or not. I like to think about what it's like for someone to really knock it out of the park in whatever they decide to undertake, all of the things they have to get right, and the consequences of getting it wrong–and then they nail it.

  But more so, there's the personal celebration afterward, but there's also those around them that celebrate for them. What's it like to have that? How does it feel to have someone be so happy for you? What's it like to accomplish something important to you that the person is happy that you simply accomplished what you set out to do and not so that you're now free to divert your energies to something else?

  This isn't a complaint, this is a recognising of something that I think has been missing in my life.

  And yet with it missing, it's what moves me so much that I get misty-eyed when I see someone or a team of people accomplish something truly great. And it's why, when I pay off my debts (oh, life), I feel a push to get a skydiving A license.

  I think.

  Pretty sure I'm going to go for it.

  Otherwise, I'm also in the middle of a search to be more empathetic. I can read off the dictionary definition of empathy, but what is it like to be empathetic? That's what I want to better understand. I've been told that I need to learn how to be empathetic, and I've been told I don't need to learn how to be empathetic, and the self-talk in me is currently saying it doesn't necessarily hurt to learn even if those close to you disagree with the more negative self-talk, so that's one of the latest self improvement projects I'm working.

  What are you working on? Doesn't matter what, self-improvement, home improvement, anything goes–whatcha workin' on?

  Magically,
  -j

  • 1:24 AM
  • 1 Comment