Dear Diem:

My very short answer to your question is: I paid attention.

Maybe you chose a helping profession  because, like a whole lots of people (most if not all psychotherapists, for example), you too needed help as a child and didn’t receive it. So you “try to help others whenever (you) can”, to give others what was not given to you.

My personal experience is that my efforts to help others wore me out too until I realized that I needed help and I wasn’t getting by proxy, that is by helping others. Or should I say, trying to help others.

What do you think?

anita