As I was writing this, I wasn’t entirely sure if I was going to post this publicly, or keep it private, as a means to try and get things from my head and onto “paper”, so to speak.

My “no duh” revelation I’ve had recently (-ish)?

I’m empathic.

This is something that I’ve known about myself for quite some time now. Sometimes, I think I might be more empathic than others. It was only within the last couple of months that I discovered just HOW empathic I am. It just kind of clicked in my head in a moment of clarity (like an ‘aha’ moment). I even posted about it on my Tumblr account:

Sudden realization about myself: music deeply touches my emotions. Not so much the lyrics, but the melody. It can connect with me on so many levels, and infiltrate every fiber of me.

Tears of joy, of sadness, of anger, giving me goosebumps. I will listen to a song over and over again if I really connect with it. It fills me with emotions, with inspiration. I feel ALIVE. Less broken.

Most of the time I really hate how I am, but once in a while, I love it.

The catalyst? Don’t laugh/judge…

TAYLOR SWIFT.

Yep, that Taylor. Since I’ve started listening to her music (I’m currently through 8 of her 10 albums), I have been on SO many emotional rides. I’ve loved every moment of it: the happy stuff, and the sad stuff.

Sooooo, after listening to one of her albums in particular (1989, my favorite so far!), one particular song hit me on a whole other level: This Love. The melody and the lyrics touched my very soul. I listened to the song over, and over, AND OVER. In my brain, an image kept appearing, along with a nagging, almost overwhelming feeling to create the image.

I also posted about this on my Tumblr:

Soooooooo …

If you read my post yesterday about myself (https://www.tumblr.com/secureinstyle/720234900805058560/sudden-realization-about-myself-music-deeply), you learned something new about me, that I learned about myself as well.

While listening to a song over and over (and OVER) again yesterday afternoon, something happened that’s never happened before.

I had an overwhelming need to create. SOMETHING. Something in my soul was telling me to create. And so, I picked up my iPad, opened up Procreate, and went to work.

The song that moved me? “This Love”, from Taylor Swift’s 1989 album. The result? This.

I know it’s not pretty, but it’s something I have NEVER done before. And now, I’m sharing it with the world.

If you want to see what I created, you can read the post for yourself.

Ever since then, certain songs of Taylor’s really hit me in such a way that images will appear, along with that overwhelming urge to create them. They are VERY rudimentary, I know.

This is something that has never happened to me before. EVER. I’ve also have been finding that as I age, I am becoming more and more empathic, so much so that even slight or seemingly insignificant things can greatly affect my mood or emotions. The blessing and the curse of being an empath. 😅

So, what did I do? I’ve started to really embrace it. I’m finally acknowledging that it is at the very core of who I am. It is what drives my passion and my loves for fashion and cybersecurity (yeah, I know, I still can’t figure out how to marry the two together, LOL). Even in my recent interview for a new job, some of the people interviewing me even remarked on how they could see my eyes light up when I was talking about something I was passionate about. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever used the word “empath” to describe myself so much in my life than I did during that interview session. 😂

I am really leaning into and embracing my empathy. So much so, that I am giving serious consideration to getting a tattoo of the symbol for empathy on me.

FYI: I have ZERO tattoos. I’ve had fleeting thoughts during fads about what it would be like to get one, but never really had the desire to do it. I didn’t even know where I would want to have one on my body, and that’s kind of an important decision to make, LOL. If you aren’t familiar with the symbol for empathy, here it is:

I didn’t even know such a symbol existed, until I tried to search out what a tattoo representing empathy would even look like…

Cue: https://empathysymbol.com

The instant I saw it, I knew this was the one for me. I want something a little more stylized for me, but haven’t sorted out the details yet. I also need to figure out where I want it to go, and how large I want it to be. I’ll remind you that I am a tattoo virgin, so I’m likely to start out rather small, because I don’t know what it’s going to feel like. I’m not the most tolerant pain-wise.

Hoo boy, that was a lot to let out. Well, now you know quite a bit about not only who I am, but what defines me. I’m still learning about and discovering myself as I go. What a journey it’s been.