What is empathy?

By Patrick B.

Being empathetic is a super important skill in life because if you are not putting yourself in somebody’s shoes and not assuming what someone else is going through then a lot of your friendships can be destroyed. You can even make your friend feel more stressed or sad than they already are. 

When you are empathetic , it can make people’s confidence level go up substantially and even that little of an act can help them chase their dreams.  So what is empathy? According to the dictionary,  empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. It can be sharing the feelings of a person or even an animal. 

Showing empathy makes other people feel good, and a lot of times, it can make you feel really good and proud too. However, if you don’t know much about being empathetic, luckily, there are countless things that you can do to learn this important skill. First of all, you should never ever assume that someone is not going through anything tough because then you might say things like, “ Get over it,” or “ You're overreacting." This can make the situation worse for them. 

Sometimes people can be going through much tougher things than you couldn’t even imagine. One way you can try to understand what the other person is going through is by asking questions. You could ask, “Do you want me to give you advice or just listen?" This is because sometimes people do not want you to fix their problems but instead they just need somebody to listen to what their problem is. Doing this is empathy and it can comfort them. 

In conclusion, being empathetic can really improve your relationships with a lot of your friends, and it will also make you happier.