Empaths Anonymous Is this your first meeting? Don't worry -- everyone's very nice. I just want to give you a little heads up that if you sit next to me, you might find yourself telling me your story. You might not want to, but I might ask you a simple question that leads to a mild observation and then to an insight and you start pouring your darkest secrets into my lap and then wondering what the hell just happened. It's not your fault. I'm part witch. I just thought I'd let you know so you could decide if you really wanted to sit there. Honestly, I don't know why people tell me their things, but they do all the time, and now I'm going to tell you my things because I think it's only fair. Since you're sitting here now, you're about to start feeling really vulnerable, and that's not your fault, and it's not my fault, but it's a fact, so .

Counsellor: Okay, we're going to leap in here, everyone. Steph, do you want to start? Me: Hi. Yes, sure. My name is Steph. I'm thirty-seven years old and I live on Prince Edward Island. That's in the middle of the ocean next to Canada, for those who aren't familiar with our red shores. I have a wife and a seven-year-old daughter. After getting my PhD in creative writing I decided I didn't want to teach and bought a former goat café, which I turned into a bookstore and coffee shop.

I have conflicting core feelings about my career. Sometimes I feel shame about not using my education better, and sometimes I feel relief and gratitude that my life is my own and I don't have to deal with the stress of trying to be a woman on tenure track at a university. My superpower is active listening. My diagnosis is anxiety/depression, but I have recently tapered off my Cipralex because of the side effects, particularly fatigue and forgetting what sex is. I'm coping at about an eight lately, trending slightly manic, which I feel is a normal, healthy response to this global virus crisis. I am a writer. Sometimes a counsellor -- but in the unregulated, meet-me-for-a-cup-of-tea kind of way. Counsellor: Thank you.

Anyone else? It's your turn now. Sorry about that. But don't worry. Everyone here is really nice.