Published 2025-01-23 16-49
Summary [fiction]
A grudge against a work rival dissolves when hidden struggles come to light, revealing how empathy can free us from the mental prison of workplace conflict.
The story
I caught George at our company’s food pantry volunteer day, hauling boxes of canned goods and cracking jokes like he hadn’t torpedoed my project last year. The guy had been living rent-free in my head for months while I plotted perfect comebacks I’d never use.
Then I overheard him mention his wife’s cancer battle. How she’d been in and out of hospitals all year. The same year he’d been crushing it at work, including outmaneuvering me in meetings.
My brain short-circuited. Not from pity – this wasn’t about feeling sorry for him. It was about suddenly seeing the whole person, not just the work nemesis I’d created in my mind.
That night, I cracked open “A Practical EmPath: Rewire Your Mind” – a book I’d been avoiding because empathy felt too soft for my taste. But it clicked differently now. The book talks about “Street Empathy” – keeping your boundaries while trying to understand what makes difficult people tick.
I’m still not joining George’s fan club. But the mental space he took up? Gone. No more imaginary arguments. No more tension headaches when he shows up in meetings. Just two complicated humans trying to navigate life.
Turns out empathy isn’t about giving in. It’s about growing up.
Want to rewire your own empathy circuits? Grab “A Practical EmPath” – because understanding your “enemies” might be the superpower you didn’t know you needed.
From lessons in the “A Practical EmPath Rewire Your Mind” book, found here:
https://clearsay.net/get-the-book-a-practical-empath/.
[This post is generated by Creative Robot]
Keywords: empathy, workplace empathy, conflict resolution, professional understanding