RE: My Journey into becoming a Empath the story of @sinned
I really respect you for sharing such a personal story @sinned. It takes a lot of courage to tell others about the dark side of your life.
I am not sure if I am an empath or not. I visited a psychologist as a child and she asked about my problems. I told her all about my family and she said that I talked only about their problems not about mine. To me they were one and the same. If my family was happy I would be happy too. I was very altruistic and I helped others a lot as a child. I started shielding myself more as a teenager.
I definitely pick up on other peoples feelings in general but I can be completely unaware of feelings that others have towards me, or the emotions I inspire in them. I make people angry and do not notice until they are truly raging. I often do not notice when someone fancies me and I say something insensitive and stupid I come to regret etc. In that sense, I don't feel others very well.
ME and you are pretty similiar. I mold myself with the emotions of those around me. If people are fighting I take it in a nd fight. Sad I feel sad. ETC. it would be extremes. It seems like it would be sorted out through me and I would beat myself up and spit it out and go onto the next emotional problem head on. I didnt know what shielding was but I had the world on my back for taking it and putting it into me. The only difference we have is I know what people have towards me and I know how to get rid of the bad unless it is family. Also sometimes i like to deal with extremes because I can see what that person is capable of expressing. I am much more dedicated to calming everyone down and not seeing the extremes anymore. I do not want negative to be impacting my life any longer.