My counselor thinks that I may have empathy/compassion fatigue from taking care of sick cats for so long. I knew that I was in some kind of burnout, and I looked up the symptoms for compassion fatigue, and some of them really fit me. It makes sense that I would have this, too, not only from taking care of the cats but also from all the service work that I was led to do in AA, and from having to hear people constantly complain about their problems and drinking past while in AA. I bet that I’ve had some form of this for a very long time. I also tended to be the caregiver in my family, and took care of the kids and elderly people in my family from the time that I was a kid. So it makes sense that eventually I would develop something like this.
What I find interesting is that in the articles I looked at, aches, pains, and fatigue were all symptoms of compassion and empathy fatigue. That really hits home to me, because sometimes I don’t know where my aches and pains are coming from.
Finding this out basically means that I need to practice more self care, and make sure to do fun and relaxing things in life. I have been doing that more and more the last couple of months, and I am feeling better. But because I’m still taking care of a cat who has cancer, I need to be extra gentle on myself. I’m also really glad that I left AA so that I’m not burdened with having to hear people’s war stories all of the time, because that was really emotionally draining to me for a lot of years (and depressing).
Anyways, here’s a link to more information on compassion fatigue:
https://www.compassionfatigue.org/pages/symptoms.html
Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment below.
You sound very in tune with yourself. Are you still going to AA? It sounded like maybe it wasn’t working for you anymore? Thanks Nicole
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I left AA a few years ago. It was a horrible experience for me.
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I mean, AA was a horrible experience for me, not leaving it. Leaving 12 step programs was one of the best things that I ever did for myself.
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