Dead bunnies, COVID meltdowns, and other empathy failures: personal reflections from Liesel Mertes
/I teach empathy because it matters, NOT because I am perfect at it.
You will make mistakes; you will miss people. I talk about some of my own “empathy misses” in this episode of the Handle with Care podcast…
How I went full-on Fix-It Frank when Bluebell the bunny was killed…
How Buck-Up Bobby reared his disapproving head when my son was sent home with a (potential) COVID-diagnosis…
The first step to cultivating meaningful change is to bring awareness to where you “go” during times of stress.
I offer two other practical tips to help you interrogate your experience and build empathy in the episode.
The Handle with Care podcast can be found on Google Play, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Or you can listen to the episode here:
Here are three key takeaways from the episode:
Sometimes we treat people who are further away from our sphere of influence better than we treat people who have a direct effect on our schedules and our workflow. So for me, it's way easier to show empathy and care if doing that doesn't affect or inconvenience the details of my life. But Magnus felt inconvenient. He was creating a lot more work for me, and I went right into a default response system.
interrogate your own experience when you find yourself going into these default behaviors, ask why am I treating this person this way?
If you have a tendency to be a Joking Julie or a Jackass Jared, you need to ask yourself some questions, beginning with, “Why am I so uncomfortable with my own emotions or with the emotions of others?”