EPISODE 8 : I SUFFER FROM EXTREME EMPATHY

Series One of our UNFILTER THAT LENS podcast has focused predominantly on the ANXIETY side of mental health issues. While Anxiety can be diagnosed by a professional, it is difficult to say that none of us have ever experienced its horrible grip. 

That said, like most illnesses, there are varying degrees  of suffering. 

We have journeyed through my personal battles with anxiety, before interviewing my husband and our eighteen year old twins.

All have had rather different experiences of anxiety, but in the last interview of the year, we get an idea of how debilitating anxiety  can be and how it can change ones life.

MIchaela is 21 years old when I interviewed her...she is the eldest of our three kids and has struggled with anxiety her entire life. But not like most of us. She feels she was born with an innate destiny that has (and still has) the tendency to cripple her. She is, like her father, a desperate people pleaser, but there is a difference between the two of them. 

While dad loves to keep people smiling and laughing to quench is people-pleasing thirst...Michaela is on a constant quest to rectify any deep pain that she wholeheartedly feels for those close to her.

I suppose it is anxiety borne by EXTREME EMPATHY. 

Beautiful in theory, but it has truly robbed her of her own peace at times.

Thanks Michaela for sharing....you are so awesome....