Turning The Other Cheek

On the side of all my unpredictable, unstable, and inconsistent creative work that I do, I work part-time in retail, selling luxury goods. I am the newest addition to our sales team. Out of everyone there, I probably make the most mistakes.

For a lot of my co-workers, their job is their life. For them, there are no other options. Many of them carry out their job in a very aggressive manner. I, on the other hand, am so relaxed as I work and it really is apparent. I work there because I enjoy it. If this part-time job does not work out, I know I can just move onto another one that I enjoy.

Few weeks ago, our store had our annual holiday party. Everyone was in a good mood and looking beautiful in their fancy clothes. But as the night progressed and more alcohol was being consumed, some of my co-workers loosened up a bit too much. One of them felt it was the opportune time to say to me, “Daniel, you are a real fuck up to the team!… You just don’t care enough… If you even dare to tell our manager about this conversation, I’m gonna kill you…”

Of course it hurt to hear all of this, especially when I have only had good intentions for others at my workplace. I felt misunderstood. My emotional sensitivity also intensified the hurt that I was feeling.

The old-me would have resorted to the use of my psychological strategies to escape my present difficult emotions. Having learned from my past the ineffectiveness of this response, I did something drastically different. I allowed myself to just feel the pain without judging whether the feeling was “good” or “bad,” whether my co-worker’s behaviour was “good” or “bad,” or whether my co-worker was a “good” or “bad” person. I resisted my impulse to investigate why such words were spoken and what had to be done to “fix” the problem. I lived in the present moment, even though that moment was not so pleasant. I also meditated on positive truths about who I am as a person. By doing all of this, I was able to keep myself calm and allow my difficult emotions to fully make its way in and out of my system while centering my identity. After giving myself all the time that I needed to grieve over the experience, I forgave her. In no time, I was feeling much better.

Then came the time to think about what to do next. The old-me would have immediately, without hesitation, confronted my co-worker. I have so much confidence in my communication skills and my mind’s ability to rapidly organize the thoughts and ideas in my head that there are not too many types of people, social situations, or sensitive topics that I feel threatened by when words must be used. In the past, I would tactfully expose the crimes of my wrongdoers and draw out their emotions of guilt to get them to stop doing the things that bother me. This practice worked out for me very nicely for many years.

For the first time, however, I realized that this kind of confrontation was actually my mechanism of control. Underneath it all, I simply feared getting hurt again. Rather than going back to my old ways, I took a chance and resisted this form of control. I kept my heart and mind open to be inspired with a better course of action. In prayer, I asked my God that I believe in, “I am pretty sure my way will achieve the outcome that I want, but is there something else You would rather have me do instead?”

Shortly after, I had a “vision” of my co-worker’s life growing up (religious or not, “psychic”-like experiences are not so abnormal in the lives of a lot of highly sensitive people). I saw (with my spiritual eyes, of course) her growing up, making mistakes, and people being very hard on her. I saw a whole string of hurtful words being spoken onto her and crushing her. I saw her desperately trying to build her self-worth through perfectionism. Her lack of grace on others when they made mistakes stemmed from the lack of grace she received growing up. I sensed the many areas of brokenness within her and just knew what she needed to hear for emotional healing to take place.

On my next day at work, I wrote her a Christmas card that included a Starbucks gift card. I wrote something along these lines (the original was much longer, of course – I just don’t remember all the things that I wrote, word for word):

“I didn’t know the extent of all the frustration and damage you experienced as a result of all my mistakes. I’m sorry. I did not mean to make you feel that I did not care. The truth is, I do care about you and appreciate you as a person very much. You are an amazing, delightful, beautiful woman with a good heart… [specific examples…] I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. ~ Daniel”

After reading my card, she came to me, thanked me, and gave me a big hug.

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I am not sharing all of this to boast to the rest of the world “Hey, look at me, I’m such a saint!” No. I share all of this to inspire others to try it out when people behave in nasty, hurtful ways.

One of the questions I get asked very frequently from my blog readers is, “Hey, I’m pretty sure my husband/wife has OCPD and it’s driving me insane. How should I break the news to him/her?” This entire blogpost is my answer: I do not think that it is so necessary to “break the news” to anyone. Rather than pointing out people’s faults, weaknesses, and crimes, I think it is much better to love one another and see people’s attacks as clues to their inner brokenness.

Empathy

em·pa·thy
/ˈempəTHē/

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

People with OCPD have a natural gift for empathy.

People with OCPD have the capacity to experience great emotional depth because of their hypersensitivity. They are able to feel emotions that most of the world will never be able to feel or understand. People with emotional sensitivity also have a heightened sense of the emotions of others. Even if others say, “I’m doing fine,” people with OCPD have the ability to see right through surface level communication. In an instant, people with OCPD can assess the body language and tone of voice of others and figure out the true emotions behind all the masks that people put on. Some people with extreme emotional sensitivity, such as myself, possess a near-psychic ability to sense even the history of emotions, hurts, and pains of others. One of the things I learned about myself in all my travels was that I can even sense the pain and suffering collectively experienced by the people of an entire nation. People with OCPD have all the right tools to enrich the lives of others through empathy.

Why then are there so many people with OCPD who do not practice their natural gift for empathy? The answer is anxiety.

At a very early age, people with OCPD were once overwhelmed by their strong negative emotions. They needed their immediate caretaker (usually their mother) to comfort them by saying, “Don’t worry, child. You’re going to be just fine. Bad feelings are a normal part of life and they will come and go. Don’t try to avoid them. Just feel them out and let them pass.” Unfortunately, most of the world (mothers included) does not understand how emotionally sensitive we are and fails to provide this kind of security. Without this security, people with OCPD grow up to fear their emotions and try everything in their power to avoid them. Recently, in a post titled “Intellectualization,” I wrote about one of the primary psychological strategies people with OCPD use to prevent themselves from experiencing negative emotions. As long as people with OCPD continue to dodge negative emotions, they will never be able to give others the sense that their feelings are being understood and shared.

In order to redeem their natural gift for empathy, people with OCPD must face their fear of negative emotions. This fear cannot be faced, however, if people with OCPD continue to make use of the very things that prevent them from experiencing their emotions. Therefore, people with OCPD must resist the urge to use their defense mechanisms as well. Every step of the way, people with OCPD must re-parent themselves with the words of comfort that I wrote in the above paragraph. When negative emotions are no longer things that need to be feared and avoided, people with OCPD can then begin to feel the negative emotions of others. When this happens, people will discover that no one can empathize with them as well as their OCPD friend.

Feeling depressed? It might not be you.

The emotional sensitivity of people with OCPD is so strong that, despite all their efforts to avoid negative feelings, people with OCPD will still pick up the emotions of others unconsciously. People with OCPD might find themselves feeling sad all of a sudden. When this happens, most people with OCPD who have not yet familiarized themselves with the power of their emotional sensitivity will likely think that they are the cause of this emotional pain. What really might be happening is that they are unconsciously empathizing with others. It is a shame that people with OCPD do not get credit for this kind of behind-the-scenes empathy. Unfortunately, the burden that people with OCPD feel for others can become so heavy that going into isolation feels like the most liberating thing to do. It is very important that people with OCPD who often feel the pain and suffering of others have outlets, like hobbies, with which they can release the burden that they pick up. I love babies and I find it so therapeutic to hang out with them (my emotional sensitivity hardly picks up any pain and suffering when I am around babies).

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SO WHAT NOW?

HOW TO CO-EXIST WITH THE OTHER (OCPD):
When your loved one is experiencing difficult emotions, do not start talking about your psychological strategies. More than anything, your loved one wants to feel that he or she is not so alone in this. Just keep your mouth shut and hold your loved one in your arms. Even if this becomes overwhelming, do not let go. If you cannot do this because you are too scared, explain that your inability has nothing to do with you not caring enough for your loved one. Explain that you are fearful of difficult emotions. Ask them to have extra patience with you as you try to overcome your fears. If you suddenly become sad because you are unconsciously empathizing with others, explain to your loved one that this happens to you because of your emotional sensitivity.

HOW TO CO-EXIST WITH THE OTHER (OTHERS):
Understand that your OCPD friend’s inability to empathize with you comes from his or her fear of experiencing difficult emotions. Do not take it so personally when your OCPD friend appears so emotionally removed from your suffering and pain. Deep inside, he or she really cares about you. He or she just happens to be too scared. When neither of you are experiencing overwhelming emotions, explain to your OCPD friend that when you are going through difficult emotions, what you would appreciate most, more than any well thought-out psychological strategies, would be for him or her to just share your feelings of suffering and pain. He or she may then go on to explain how psychological strategies are more practical than empathy in that they actually resolve the problem. Then respond, “As crazy as it may sound, I don’t care so much to resolve the problem right away. Maybe later. But the first thing I want is to not feel so lonely in my suffering and pain. I understand that it is uncomfortable for you to feel negative emotions, but for my sake, so that I don’t feel so lonely, please try to experience my pain with me.” You will then need patience as your OCPD friend faces his or her fears. This may take some time. Encourage him or her along the way. When your OCPD friend becomes sad or depressed for no reason, do not be so quick to blame yourself or your OCPD friend as he or she may be empathizing with others pain and suffering unconsciously. When this happens, remind your OCPD friend that the feelings may not be his or her own and not his or her burden to carry. Encourage him or her not to drain him or herself out too much if this is the case.