I would never in a million years describe myself as an empath. I would say that I’m quiet intuitive in regards to people’s feelings and I’m also sensitive to the atmosphere of a room, but so are lots of people.
I think though like a previous poster owing to a difficult childhood I’m quite hypersensitive to the moods of others. I’m also completely deaf in one ear, so because of this I find I read peoples faces/body language a lot. So when I say I’m intuitive, what I mean is I often get a gut feeling about people. This is useful but also a complete pain in the ass because I can completely dislike someone for seemingly no good reason, and it makes me feel terribly unreasonable and guilty, as if I’ve not given them a chance. I’m always polite and never rude to someone because of this, but I do hold back and tend to keep my distance.
I would also say I’m not emotional or one to cry, yet if I watch a sad film, read a sad post, hear of a close friends struggle etc I will tend to well up over it, or shed a few sympathy tears. When it comes to myself I’m not dramatic at all, and despite having been through some tough shit, I don’t cry about it, I sort of tend to keep it all to myself. I’m not one to discuss my own struggles, but always happy and willing to listen and support other people’s. I think this makes me strange, kind of like I’ll feel more for others than I would myself, almost like I’m shut off. I think this probably down to the fact that if I thought or felt as in depth for myself as I do for others I would be opening a huge can of worms, so it’s probably some sort of self preservation or coping mechanism stemming from childhood.
What I do hate and do find intensely fake and irritating is those who flock around to support someone, not because they actually want to support that person, but for the sake of being involved and privy to the drama/gossip/attention and looking like a good person themselves.
Grief thieves are another awful annoyance, there were several of these around during my mums fight with cancer, and then at her funeral. I was just a teen, and so many of these same people promised so much support, told my mum she’d never have to worry about her kids because they would be there, wailed loudly over her death and guess what....after the funeral never heard from a single one of them again!! Funny that!!!
So yes I think there are genuine empathetic lovely caring people out there, but there is also an awful lot of pretenders.