Sunday, 26 February 2012

The emotional sponge...


Also known as myself. I’m not sure whether I am hyper-sensitive or if everyone is like me, but I seem to absorb other people’s emotions. I am totally unable to switch myself off from being affected by the moods of those around me. If someone else is sad, I feel sad. Likewise if someone else is angry, I feel angry. I can’t switch it off;  if I knew how I probably would.

Last week was a highly charged week emotions-wise. Frustrations, stresses, anxieties of those around me bled so far into me that I felt utterly miserable and inconsolable when in fact personally I’d had quite a good week beforehand and should have been feeling a sense of achievement and contentment.

Today I find myself feeling desperately melancholy. A friend of mine has had some bad news and now faces months of watching the inevitable deterioration and eventual loss of someone very close to her. When we found out, everyone in the room was respectfully understanding, and understandably subdued, but still, days later, I find myself choked by the profound sadness of it all.

The only way out for any of us is to look on the bright side and make the most of what the couple have, and have had together, and remember that there are others much worse off, alone and without the support and thoughts of anyone to help them through difficult times.

So today I am seeing my sponge-like quality as a positive. I will tell myself that my ability to see and feel other people’s suffering to such a degree shows an honesty of feelings offers a sharing and support of that situation, and will hope that they recognise it as a sign that I care.

And so I chose Spongebob to accompany this post to bring a smile to my sorrow. And it could be worse... I could have square pants.

Elloise Hopkins.

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