Jason's Lens: Empathy matters: let’s rediscover it together

Empathy is rooted in our ability to understand what someone else is going through, to share in their feelings. Even if we can’t personally relate, we can listen without judgment and simply support what someone else is going through. 

I’m hearing more and more from people who are expressing they are struggling to be empathetic with others. They appreciate we are all different and have various lived experiences, but they can’t find the will to empathize with them. After two years of divisiveness in our communities, it’s just too exhausting. 

It’s not just anecdotal anymore. Recent research from the Canadian Mental Health Association and the University of British Columbia has confirmed that Canadians are feeling less empathetic due to COVID-19. In Ontario, 12 per cent of people reported feeling empathy while that number was 26 per cent when the pandemic started. On top of that, 39 per cent of Ontarians surveyed confirmed their mental health has gotten worse since the start of COVID.

There’s no question our mental health has gotten worse. Stress and anxiety levels are high and for those managing teams of people, ensuring the health and wellness of your employees can be an added pressure. For you, those stress levels might be the trigger you use to book a counselling appointment. 

But a lack of empathy shouldn’t be brushed off either. 

Our ability to empathize with others is a foundational tool in our own mental health and wellness. If we are constantly critical of others, if we are overreacting and can’t even try to understand how another person is feeling, not only does it drive a wedge between groups of people or individuals, but it can also hinder our ability to see the world from a different perspective. 

What makes our community beautiful is the differences that we come to the table with. We all have different experiences and varied perspectives that together, we can share and connect over. We can grow stronger together with an ability to understand — to empathize — with a feeling we might not have experienced for ourselves, but can see how it would be tough. 

Over the last two years, some people lost multiple family members to the pandemic. Others lost their jobs. Another group of people haven’t been directly impacted. Through every change in dynamic over the last two years, everyone is reacting to it with a different lens. And while you don’t have to agree with someone else’s perspective — trying to be empathetic will go a long way.

Jason King is the Executive Director of Some Other Solutions