Is Empathy a Gift or a Curse?

From my experience of living for the past 18 — almost 19 (my birthday will happen next week) and I learned so many things about myself. I am known to be ambiverted (a possession of both introverted and extroverted qualities), kind, artistic, sensitive, and many more. One thing that I have learned and known, is a life time problem of mine lately. I am empathic. I feel that it is a good thing that I can care about others, but it ends up hurting me. As usual, I always put someone else’s feelings and needs before mine. I always sit there and listen, and am patient as they try to work out their own journey. The feeling of empathy as a curse is one of the most painful feelings that a human being can feel. It feels like as if it were an insult to humanity — that our feelings are invalid. What can a person do, with these feelings. It may feel as if you could feel everything all at once, then never again. I have struggled with anxiety and depression in my adolescent life, and it still continues on. When you care so much, and deeply, it is empathy. When you walk into a room and feel all or one feelings that someone else is feeling, it is empathy. Empathy may be either a gift or a curse, or even both to a being.