Majority of People are NPC’s

Completely new here so I have no idea if this has been discussed before.

But holy shit. As a (M25) with empathy, I’ve finally realized that I’ve been putting in an inconsiderable amount of effort into people who don’t deserve it. Since then, I have finally found a sense of freedom.

Growing up I was the people pleaser. I was the reliable guy. I was the one who’d gladly leave a group of friends I was talking to in the event I saw someone shy and alone feeling left out. And for most people in my life I was “home base”.

Don’t get me wrong, empathy is a quality that I am grateful to have. However, in a world full of people who don’t, it can seriously be a detriment. That’s until you realize that the way you care and think about people and their emotions, is 99% of the time not the same way they perceive you.

This has literally changed my whole philosophy on life and now I surround myself with people who deserve my empathy. This leads me to the title of this post of how most people are NPC’s. This might sound harsh but these people simply can’t think a millimeter past their own skin and for them you shouldn’t either.

Empathy is reading the room. Empathy is understanding someone’s emotions past your own.

Understanding that some people are just not on your same wavelength is using your empathy for your own benefit.

This is not being mean or being unfriendly. I for one have always been upset with others for, what at the time I didn’t know was, them not inherently possessing empathy. Not till recently, did I understand that me being upset with the actions of an NPC was actually me using my empathy incorrectly. Empathy would actually be me understanding that they don’t care about me, therefore I shouldn’t care about them.

I could sound like I’m preaching to the choir but damn is it life changing. For anyone struggling feeling like they’re isolated, no one understands them, or they’re weird for having these types of emotions: you’re not.

It’s easy to see yourself as the weird one when you’re surrounded by regular people. On the flip side it’s way harder to see that you’re special in the way you possess empathy . Surrounded yourself with empathetic people who you know will reciprocate the effort you put into them. Coming from experience this is what makes me feel valued. The inverse of this is what has made me feel unvalued.

Sorry for the rant, I’m just so passionate about this and I hope it may help someone who’s ever been unhappy in the same boat.

There’s 8K people in this subreddit for a reason. It’s a rare quality.

Cheers.