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Does anyone else feel ‘emotionally empty’ sometimes?

4 replies

whiteblankpage · 29/01/2020 16:20

I’m going through a bit of a stressful time at the moment. I’m in my final year of a challenging degree which requires a lot of emotional empathy and support in placement, raising three children, have a relative who’s had a heath crisis that I’ve done a lot of hospital visiting for and doesn’t appear to be getting better and then to top it off my relationship with my dad is breaking down because he’s a bit of an arsehole.

I mentioned to my husband last week that I was starting to feel a bit worn out and he sympathised/made all the right noises. Happened to have an awful shift yesterday with a tragic outcome so by the time I got home, I just wanted to switch off. All fine until bedtime, husband takes offence at something innocuous I’ve said and storms off. He has a habit of this occasionally so I just ignored him and went to bed.

He left for work before me this morning and text me explaining how he felt last night - an explanation not an apology. I’ve told him I don’t want to talk about it and I can tell he’s a bit shocked. I am emotionally empty - I have no capacity at the moment to deal with this petty shit and I feel like if the roles were reversed I’d be providing loads of physical and emotional back up whilst he dealt with what was going on in his life.
Urgh don’t know why I’m positing, I just sometimes wish someone would treat me the way I treat him.

OP posts:
FallingIguanas · 29/01/2020 16:39

I'm guessing your degree may be in healthcare. Look up compassion fatigue and see if it fits. It affects many of us. Can you ask for help from your cohort or personal tutor?

LaLoose · 29/01/2020 18:29

Are you also feeling numb towards your children? If so, you may be depressed. And by the sound of things, that wouldn't be a massive surprise...

PicsInRed · 29/01/2020 18:39

He sounds like a right energy sponge who has leaned on you (and possibly emotionally abused you) until you almost fell over. Instead of falling over, your brain has preserved its human by switching the caring function right down to "min".

As PP said, compassion fatigue - but I think the main trigger is your husband not allowing you to emotionally rest from work when you're at home. You've effectively been forced into a 24/7 caring role.

whiteblankpage · 29/01/2020 20:05

Don’t feel numb towards my children, or him normally and at work I’m still ok, just occasionally I feel so exhausted with all this ‘feeling’. Normally I’d be pretty clear with him about how I’m feeling, why he over reacted, tell him to sort himself out but I just can’t be arsed.
A colleague I spoke to said yes she recognises the feeling of I’m empty, and I need someone to fill me back up haha.

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