Empathy

I just realized to a small extent one way that my ankle business has been a blessing.

I don't remember if I've covered on here the history of my ankle problem. Almost 2 years ago, I was in a dance class and hurt my ankle pretty badly. I went to the on-campus athletic trainer for dancers, got diagnosed with a grade 3 lateral sprain, and saw the trainer for treatment for several months. My ankle was still painful a year later, so I finally listened to my mom and saw a doctor. A couple different scans revealed that I had broken my ankle the year before, and that the joint would need to be fused in a few years unless I had surgery. Today I'm about 10 months post-surgery. The doctor expects me to make a full recovery by my year mark.

My ankle was unusually sore for the last couple days, so I was reflecting on that this morning. As I thought about it, I realized that just in the last week I've been able to have greater empathy with at least two people in somewhat-similar situations. Last week, my brother sprained his ankle to a lesser degree, but I understood his pain much better than if his sprain occurred three years ago, before my accident. I met a woman in a couple of my classes who is recovering from brain surgery, and I was able to empathize with the long recovery process and not wanting to wait before jumping back into normal life. There have been other people over the past two years as well: I feel instant empathy with anyone in a foot brace or cast, and sometimes I'll ask about their injury story and how they're doing. Having had similar experiences myself makes their situation more interesting to me, and I'm more motivated than before to express that interest and be supportive and understanding.

My husband and I listened to a TEDtalk once that proposed that witnessing suffering breeds empathy; the speaker asserted that neurologically, the brain is identical whether observing or experiencing an act. I've mused over that lately and how it could apply to my life. I haven't thought about it enough yet, but it's a start and makes me curious.