There is a line in one of my favourite songs by the music group Lady Antebellum which a very dear friend introduced me to some years ago. It goes ‘I would rather hurt than feel nothing at all’. This could not be more true a statement for me. I have been observing of late the variance in emotions that people experience and also the degree of emotional maturity they attain.
I have an empathetic nature and feel quite deeply. I have grown to not take things so personally and not feel the need to explain myself to others, especially those who do not have my best interests at heart. With all that I feel, sometimes with great intensity, I am very grateful that I have these emotional capabilities.
I have witnessed people who lack, even late into life, for one reason or another, emotional maturity. There is a semblance of a high school teenager when privy to seeing their behaviours or hearing their words. Refining and managing the gamut of feelings has bypassed them, not in entirety yet sufficient to be obvious to a keen eye. It is possible they will not achieve a level of development similar to that of their peers.
I have also seen others who don’t seem to have a range of emotions; they seem very ‘monotone’ most of the time. There is little fluctuation in the emotions they experience and the intensity with which they feel them. In that also, there is often a lack of relating to others who do have more visible differences in what they feel and when they display it. One can spend many a year working alongside or in a relationship with these folks and they will not reach a true understanding of you.
So the line in the song resonates very much with me. I truly would rather hurt than not feel anything. I cannot imagine not feeling empathy, understanding, compassion, deep love, peace, contentment and frustration, hurt, anger and annoyance. It is such a foreign concept to me that I struggle to even imagine what life would be like to not feel much at all. I just cannot conceive it.
Such a vast array of differences we all experience in our lives. This makes us unique and special and it makes for very interesting people watching and observation of human behaviours.
Image credit: Alexandr Ivanov @pixabay