M.E. Thomas: Yeah I have friends, I even mention in the, the several friends that I have that do know I'm a sociopath. And one of the friends, I mention and talk about, and she sort of helped me to understand that trust was something important. And that relationships were valuable, and that relationships should last more than a few months or a year or two years.
And then another friend was really actually helpful and instrumental in terms of, helping me write the book. Because, as you can imagine, if you don't have really a strong sense of self, it's difficult to sit down and start writing a memoir.
Rob Kall: Okay, I'm going to get to that sense of self, cause you mentioned that before, you have a weak sense of self. But I want to stay with this friends thing first, cause you know to have friends, don't you have to care? And do you, can you, do you care about your friends? And how is that different from empaths?
M.E. Thomas: Right, do I care about my friends? I definitely do care about my friends. I see them largely, I think, you know if, I don't really necessarily think of it in terms of these, I just like being around them right? Why do I like being around them? They are interesting. They have interesting ideas, I respect their opinions when I feel, I have good ideas and I want to tell somebody about them, or get their feedback. I respect their opinions about these things.
They sometimes know me better, a little bit better than I know myself in particular areas. So I can call them and say, "I'm very angry," you know I'll tell you what happened, and they can say, "This is what you're angry about. You know this is what, you know, you didn't like about this situation".
That can be very helpful. And just, they're interesting people too. It's interesting getting their, hearing their emotional world, even being able to experience their lives vicariously through them. I do definitely care for them, and I wouldn't want to jeopardize these friendships.
But I also have to sort of acknowledge to myself that, if things were to change, you know if they change to a certain point, I sort of tell the story in the book, about how one friend who's dad got cancer, changed so significantly that I did think, this friendship isn't worth maintaining.
Rob Kall: You dump her, you dumped her for awhile. She just, and she was pretty hurt about that.
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