I'm far too sensitive

Have you thought of seeing a therapist to talk this through? It's so easy to not get the tone right when you read a text or message, that you misunderstand the sender's intention..example, you send a long text get an ok back, you feel dismissed but the other person is caught up in stuff but wants you to know they've seen your text and agree/understand. If you feel the other person may have worried or problems which is why you get short or terse answers send an "you ok, everything alright" text..then leavening them to communicate..

zakouma66

As a child growing up in a frightening household, I developed antennae that could pick up every nuance. I also believed everything was my fault and it was up to me to put it right.

@zakouma66 I can so relate to your comment. It was so much frightening for me, but I always felt my step dad was hovering around everytime I was trying to have a discussion with my Mum. He hated any conflict or raised voices...it made me very uncomfortable to express my feelings...but I can now pick up on every uncomfortable silence or look in any room. I also believed everything was my fault if a look changed and wanted to make things right. It's actually something I try and work on as I know I've always worried too much. I'm not responsible for other peoples behaviours but my own.

I meant it wasn't so much frightening

fancythat

^Were they to assume that there is no reason why anyone should put them down^

Good comment

the only empath I know of is Lwxana Troi who can feel what other people are feeling. I think this lady is not an empath because she has no idea what the sender is actually feeling!

I think we should be wary of labels. empath , narcissist, sociopath and so on.

However, I do think we can have empathic traits. We pick up on the feelings of others. I am acutely aware of how others may be feeling. It is a sort of hyper vigilance and over sensitivity and is not always a good thing.
Some people don't feel a damn thing and blithely go about their me me me lives.

I agree most of all with Petra and MissAdventure on this thread. When people self-identify as an empath or extra sensitive it is if everyone else cannot possibly understand what others are going through or how they themselves feel about it as they don't have this extra special part of their makeup. They make it all about them and their hurt feelings and how theyreact to a dreadful event. In the same way that l have found that the most tactless people require one to be extra diplomatic, people who tell everyone how sensitive they are tend not to think about other people's very valid feelings, just their own reactions to them. I think that one of the worst things one can say to someone else is "l know just how you feel," because it is not true - no-one knows exactly how anyone else is feeling. I often think a simple "sorry to hear your news" is enough and sounds much more sincere. Again, if you really are worried that you might have offended someone, simply say to them that you feel that you may have said something to upset them and, if so, you would like to apologise. Nine times out of ten, a seeming shortness of manner is nothing to do with you, but the person themselves is simply preoccupied with something else.

I’m the same but I suffer with anxiety. Maybe you have some anxiety at the moment and it’s exaggerating these feelings

There’s sensitive - for instance to the feelings of others and there’s over-sensitive

RosiesMaw Very neatly summarised!

As a fellow Empath, I feel we are a vessel for all emotions. Do we do it to ourselves? I don't really know. Is it in our DNA? I don't know that either. I struggle with this too and the best thing I have done for myself, is sit down and write a message to myself about how I feel and what I feel like sending back to the person. Then I toss the message out and erase it from my mind. Its a form of discipline but as I age I find I can't keep letting these feelings consume me. I am down to 1 day now. 1 day of thinking about, and acting upon my reactions, and feelings before letting it go.

M0nica

Dare I ask, are you really an empath - or are you someone who sees off tones and push offs in the most innocent remark?

I had an uncle who could see negative remarks and put downs in the most innocent of remarks. It made conversation very difficult.

I have also, myself, assumed someone was saying something upsetting to me,when, when I went back over the message later realised I had got it completely wrong.

I do wonder how far someone like the OP is an empath, and how much someone who suffers from lack of self-esteem and sees put downs and negative attitudes in what other people do or say, or messages, because that is what their lack of self esteem leads them to expect. Were they to assume that there is no reason why anyone should put them down, therefore any supposedly off message is the result of them choosing to interpete the message that way, life would be much better and yhey would discover thta they were not as empathetic as they think.

This. reading stuff into stuff is not being an empath.