Empathy

It was confusing when you were 10 and told your relatives to get lost for their condescending comments while having constant nightmares about going to prison. Because that's when you realized you didn't care for authority but also smart enough to want a distance from troubles.

Having difficulty managing emotions, prone to meltdowns means I hold affection longer and deeper, but also anger and hate. How does it look in real life? I have the potential to be both a hero and a criminal.

Like, stopping the bully from harassing a girl, which resulted in getting the first death threat for myself. 6th grade was fun. But also, not that great of a person for the whole rap song on the table thing, especially when it wasn't even a real conflict. I mean she made fun of the poor, but I could have just explained to her like a normal person. After all, people gave me plenty of chances to grow up gently.

When we were kids, my sister and I used to argue all the time about how we approached conflicts despite having the same moral values. I accused her of being a coward for not doing the right things. She accused me of being an idiot for not thinking ahead. Luckily we grew up to appreciate our differences so that rarely happens anymore. Because the world would need both kinds of people. And we both learned to have better balance of each trait.

Anyone says their hyperempathy means they are always loving and kind is lying. That's not empathy. That's reaction formation.