It doesn’t take much to be empathetic with someone.

You don’t have to give everything you have. You don’t have to spend the whole night.

Usually, all someone needs is the recognition that you know how they’re feeling. It could be a few seconds, up to a few minutes.

Just think of the other things we spend our time doing each day. Messaging, emailing, talking on the phone.

It’s not about time. If it was, you’d not have enough to get dressed in the morning. It’s about a fear, a fear of connecting too deeply with that person’s pain. A fear their pain might be transferred to you.

That’s usually all it is though, fear. And when we don’t give that empathy to the person who needs it, we both lose.