I obviously have empathy for highly emotional people and know they can’t really help it, but some emotional people frustrate me because the way they have an overwhelming response to everything in my opinion sometimes is a little self centered. Theres some people who you just can tell feed off the self pity and want everyone to stop and comfort/accomodate them. Wanting that kind of attention is okay to an extent when you need help but starts to feel inappropriate and a burden when those emotions are always dropped like a bomb on everyone without consent and often on people who aren’t even very close to you. That and there starts to be a monopolizing of the emotional space when theres something that is emotionally affecting EVERYONE. There just seems to be a lack of awareness of others and self regulation which I know can be incredibly difficult for some people especially if they’re neurodivergent or have trauma or something, but as much as those struggles are valid its also just a fact that for other people who may struggle too in different ways those people are sometimes exausting.
Like, one of our beloved clinic cats died at work. As she was dying a couple people in particular took up the entire space (as in literally, like the ones holding and being with her the whole time with little room for others to say their goodbyes). They were blubbering about how much the cat meant to them specifically, how they would have taken her home before if they could blah blah. Of course being sad as hell and feeling a special connection with her was valid, but she was important to everyone and I felt like I couldn’t even get in there and have my own moment with her. Luckily I had been with her the night before without those emotional coworkers being there and pretty much knew this was coming, so I had at least some kind of goodbye there.
Now that the cat is gone, with a couple of these coworkers I can’t even talk and reminise about the cat without someone crying and saying they miss her too much and how they don’t want us to talk about her. I can’t even share happy memories of a silly little cat with people unless this handful of over the top emotional people aren’t in the room. Everyone has to meet them at their level of emotion and can’t share their feelings together outside that.
Like maybe to a degree this is all my own problems with struggling with sharing intimate emotions with other people and projecting my insecurities about being a burden onto other people. Regardless its still frustrating to me when one person’s emotions take up the ENTIRE space and do not allow for room for others to grieve in different ways. I know I was not the only one who chose to quietly slip away during our clinic cat’s euthanasia because others were too difficult to be around.
