Look around: show empathy

During a Neurological Aspects class, we closed off class after watching a video on empathy and our perspective. The video's purpose was to show that every single person you come in contact with has a story, or is struggling through something. Watching this video made me cry, because I think it's something we all know is true, but we neglect to think about it in the middle of our crazy lives. It really is hard to be compassionate to someone on a long, tiring Monday if they aren't pulling their weight or they get in your way because they weren't looking where they were going. However, they may be waiting for a phone call from a family member about a surgery, or they may be reading google results about a diagnosis they just received. It also is important to remember that just because something is going well in your life, that does not mean that your neighbor is feeling that same happiness so you should just look past him. From personal experience, just someone going that extra step on those hard days can make all the difference to my outlook. After watching this video, I am determined to keep this mindset throughout my daily life. It's a common phrase to "walk a mile in someone's shoes", but really just looking at their path and recognizing what they are going through and offering them help is just as important. Empathy is important for clinicians because they can be in contact with individuals really struggling through something, but we as people cannot forget that those same individuals may be in our daily lives, we just don't realize it.