People

The hardest part about leaving school isn't the packing or the moving, or even the impending boredom that occurs. The hardest part is the saying goodbye to those special people who you have had constant contact with for 9 months. Even people you don't really talk to, you end up missing them as well. Let's break these people up into groups:
Group 1: The People You Don't Really Know- These are those people that you don't even necessarily know their names, but you see them everyday in the hall or en route to class. These people could be food workers, chapel scanners, adult students, awkward couples, Shiloh goers, etc. The people you just get accustomed to seeing daily.
Group 2: The Classmates- these are the random people you are put into class with that you barely know. Depending on the class size and how strict your professor is will determine how much contact you actually have with these people. If the class is small and you have some free time (breaks), or if these people are in multiple classes of yours they move down the list to Group 6 or even 7.
Group 3: The RAs and the Dormmates- These are people that you just expect to be there all the time. You get accustomed to them being near you at all times in the dorm. The RAs are always around if you need something or someone to talk to. The Dormmates are always there too if you need to borrow something or attend an event with. These people can either be people you see all the time or people you never see depending on the circumstances, but yet they are always there.
Group 4: Teachers and RDs- These are the special adults in your life that keep you on track. You may prefer some professors to others, or some RDs to others, but either way they are there for you when you really need it. Professors do actually have hearts and want what's best for you. RDs are those who truly care about what's going on in your life and have an open ear when you need to talk at somebody for advice.
Group 5: The People You Love That Are Never Around- these are the people that you came to love in years past, but you only see them once in a blue moon. They are always on your mind and in your heart. When you get to see them after a long time, it's like your heart melts. They are always good for advice because they have a clean perspective from not being around as often.
Group 6: The Regulars- These are the people you see and talk to daily at lunch or in chapel. You become accustomed to hearing about their lives and seeing their faces all the time. This is almost an in-between group. They aren't really your close friends, but they are closer than most others. These people aren't necessarily sad when you say goodbye for the summer and are relatively easy to say goodbye to.
Group 7: The Close Friends- These are the people you can count on. They stick with you no matter what and are always open in giving opinions. They deal with classes with you and talk about professors with you. They are the people who will fight for you when you get into a mess. You can talk about you issues or even other people's issues with these people. These people are the ones you can truly learn to trust. These are by far the hardest to say goodbye to. These are the ones that make you cry when you think about how long it's going to be until you see them again, and even make you sad when you realize you only have maybe two years left with these people before you possibly never see them again as we scatter the country. These people are actually sad to see you go as much as you are sad to see them go.
People are people. It doesn't matter how well you know them, it's still hard when they aren't around. The better you know them, the harder it is.

Starting off.

Empathy vs. Sympathy
People seem to get these things confused a lot, so I thought I would define them to make things clear.
Both of these words deal with emotion and relating with others.
Sympathy comes from French meaning "together suffering", whereas Empathy comes from Greek meaning "in feeling". Now with this in mind, Sympathy is defined as recognizing someone's suffering and feeling for them, while Empathy is defined as actually sharing someone's suffering, briefly "putting oneself in another's shoes" to be cliche. In essence, Empathy includes experience.In my experience, I've always felt sympathy and compassion for people, but I don't remember having true empathy until this year. I truly care for other people, and sometimes put their needs before my own. But, I had never truly felt and understood their emotions until recently. I've even been able to experience emotions I've never had before. I've felt joy, pain, hatred, anger, anxiety, depression, sadness, sickness, and addiction. Problem #1: I can't always tell what the difference is between my real emotions and somebody else's. Problem #2: Some people just don't get it. Even those who say they get it, don't really understand until A) I feel something of theirs, or B) They witness me feeling something of somebody else's. Even those who fall under category B have doubts until A happens. Now I can be considered a "Highly Sensitive Person"- "This is a specific trait with key consequences that in the past has often been confused with innate shyness, social anxiety problems, inhibitedness, or even social phobia and innate fearfulness, introversion, and so on." Totally describes me right? or at least the way I was in high school. As a good friend just told me, it fits my personality, and they weren't surprised about all of this. 
This is my empathic life. 

New Blog :)

This is my new blog! This is like the third blog I've started, but obviously they worked out so well so far lol. This one will be different. My goal is to try to post at least once a week and hopefully I can keep it up. :)
I'm an open book kind of person so if you have a question or topic you'd like for me to write on let me know, but I doubt many people will read this anyways.