Empaths & Emotional Exhaustion

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

“I hate people,” I told my friend the other day, “I really, really do.”

“I hate people,” is something I say often but don’t really mean, sort of like how people say they’re busy or tired all the time. Most of us are less busy than we fancy ourselves and less tired than we need to be. But we all like to complain, and me complaining about how annoying other people are scratches the same itch as other people complaining about anything else. There is a sort of cultural currency that comes with being busy and tired, but I’m not sure that same currency applies to hating people. Probably, I just seem crotchety and unlikeable, which is exactly the vibe I was going for at that moment.

She laughed, because she knows I don’t hate every person, but only very specific people at very specific times. “Hate is a strong word,” you might be thinking, but in my world strong words are the only words worth using. The person who cut me off in traffic only to brake check me? Hate. The guy who calls incessantly despite me politely asking him to please pound sand? Hate. The prospective client I call only to have them curse at me or ghost me or call me a sour name? Hate. The person who needs constant validation? The person who kicks their dog? The person who doesn’t wash their hands after using a public bathroom? The…