empathy

The dangers of blood loss

I'm not typically much of an empath. But while listening to a book, my imagination runs with the story.

I was listening to a book yesterday, and in it someone was dying. There was a description of their blood loss, and the weakness and loss of feeling in the arms. I was driving home, and I started to feel weak (as though I were experiencing the same). For the first time in the 2 or 3 years that I've been listening to books on my daily commute, I had to stop listening to the book because I feared that if I didn't I might have problems driving!

In my normal mode of operation, this isn't so much of a problem, as I evidently have emotional and mental guards against such things. But when immersed in a story, particularly one that's being read aloud, I find those guards aren't there (I guess they have to be removed to enjoy the story).

I found it interesting. It's not the first time that hearing about blood loss has caused such a reaction in me, however. I give blood no problem, but it's just too easy for me to imagine my life slowly pulsing out of me. I'm having a hard time even writing this! heh

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