2025-10-14
6 分钟Hey there, welcome to Radio Headspace, it's Dora.
So there was a time, not long ago, when I felt like I had nothing left to give.
I wasn't necessarily in a crisis, I wasn't angry, I was just flat and dull.
I was still showing up for people texting back, listening to their stories,
nodding along, but inside, I felt completely drained.
And it didn't make sense.
I cared deeply about the people in my life.
I always wanted to be there for them.
So why did it feel so exhausting?
It wasn't until I started reflecting on my mindfulness practice that I realized I was mixing up two very different things.
Empathy and compassion.
Empathy and compassion are often lumped together, but they're not the same.
Empathy is when we feel with someone, we take on their emotions and almost absorb them as our own.
Whereas compassion is the recognition of someone else's emotional pain paired with a willingness to help,
but without taking on their suffering as our own.
And because compassion doesn't require us to feel the other person's pain,
It's something that we can sustain.
When we confuse the two, we risk running out of energy,
not because we don't care, but because we've been caring what was never ours to hold.
This is not to say that one is right and one is wrong,