Like many of the high-masking, I have hyper-empathy. If I'm talking to someone, whether in person, in a video call, on the phone, by text message, email, or on an internet forum, I'm sensitive to what tone, word choice, and body language mean for the person's feelings. And because I myself have struggled much in life with many kinds of challenging feelings, I can easily find myself standing in the other person's emotional shoes.

I've known this about myself for a while. But recently, working on Step 9 and examining the idea of connection between myself, other individuals, and communities made me realize that my hyper-empathy has some effects on my self-esteem.

First of all, the simple fact that I pick up so much information on other people's feelings, while not everyone else does, makes me feel out of step with others.

Second, the fact that other people don't seem to be picking up as much information about me makes me feel unworthy of their notice or attention. I know it's not rational for me to hold others accountable for failing to do something their neurobiology is not designed for, but it's hard not to feel rejected.

Third, I'm often not in a position to do anything about the information I'm picking up, which makes me feel helpless, like I'm not creative enough, or I'm letting the other person down (even when they haven't asked me for help.)

What about you? Does hyper-sensitivity towards others' feelings have an effect on your self-esteem?

Share questions:

• Do you experience hyper-empathy? Does it have any influence on your self-esteem? Please describe. 
• Whether you have hyper-empathy or no, do ever find you take on too much of other people's emotional or psychological burdens? Does it affect your self-esteem? 
• This share describes hyper-empathy from one individual to another, but is there a parallel in your life with groups: sensing the group mood and maybe taking it upon yourself? Something else?
• Any tools, strategies, or resources to share?
• Anything else to add?