- Children!
Children!
Well,
this is it.
The last episode
of The Science of Empathy, and I don't know about you,
but I'm starting to feel a little burned out.
Actually, that's a common problem for people
who work in fields that demand a lot of empathy,
like social workers or healthcare professionals.
When people become overburdened experiencing
the feelings of others,
they can start to cope with that stress in unhealthy ways.
They can become calloused
and shut out the other person's pain,
making them less effective helpers.
Or they can quit altogether.
Even people outside emotionally demanding
professions can feel burned out
if they try to help others in their life too much,
without also focusing on themselves.
So, how do we stay empathetic long-term?
Researchers have found different ways
for people to stay compassionate
and keep from being overcome by emotions.
Like focusing on self-love first
or having a support group that shares the burden.
Today, in our own SoulPancake-y way,
we're going to combine those two methods
to show you how they can ease the emotional toll of empathy.
We couldn't do our experiment in the lab today,
we had to come out to the field.
So, we came to the Boys & Girls Club
of Santa Clarita Valley.
Who's ready to do some science?
We met at a Boys & Girls Club
where our participants would spend an hour
mentoring and interacting with children.
While we hope this brightens the children's day,
we're expecting this to be draining for our participants.
We tried this two different ways,
with participants in groups of three,
and with a participant all by their lonesome.
Before they started, we gave them a happiness test
with a few extra questions to get a feel
for their mood and energy level.
Then, we threw them to the wolves.
I mean adorable children.
Okay, team,
these are the kids you're gonna be working with today.
- Hey guys. - Hey, what's up?
- Your job, right now, is you're gonna organize
some sort of physical activity.
- What's your name, CJ?
- What's yours? - Jalen.
- What about you? - Anthony.
- Alright, we need two team captains.
- Oh, me. - Raise your hand.
- Let's go.
Guys, let's go, let's go, let's go.
- Throw it.
- Boom!
- Then we let the kids cut loose with some art therapy.
You
are going to be our human canvases.
- Oh my God. - What?
- Yeah.
- Alright.
- Alright, guys, we should all hold hands
while we do this. - Okay.
Okay.
- What? - Yes.
- Oh my my face.
- Come on. - Should I wear this
to my wedding? - Yeah.
- Oh my gosh.
- Goggles.
- Alright. - Team effort.
- Oh my. - Yes.
- [Host] Girls look so good, you guys.
- Let it loose. - I know, it looks great.
- It's interesting.
- Finally, we got serious
and had our participants
offer some sage advice about adulting.
- Is it weird being a grown up?
- Definitely weird right now.
I wish I was more like you guys.
You're having more fun than me.
- How do you get good grades in school
and how do you maintain the grades?
- You know, I'll say,
I have gotten really amazing grades in school,
I've gotten really poor grades in school.
I got good grades when I never compared myself
with anybody else and I didn't let myself be distracted.
- Thank you, thank you. - Goodbye.
- I would hug you but you are with your regular clothes.
- Bear hugs? - Bear hug.
- So, did having support
and sharing the load make a difference?
Our participants who had to go it alone
reported a decrease in energy,
which isn't surprising.
Our groups also reported feeling drained,
but, on average, felt less drained
than our lonely kid wrangler.
You guys have a good day today?
- Yeah - It was a...
It was a great day. - Yeah.
- Having two other people
definitely made a lot of things easier.
- You wanna have a team, you wanna have people to support,
you wanna have people that are patient.
- If I'm feeling burnt out and feeling guilty about that
I can just ask them, like, 'Are you guy a little tired?'
and they'll be like, 'Yeah, me too"
and then I kinda get a boost of energy
from knowing they're in the same place.
- Oh yeah, it's kinda like a give and take.
And sometimes you need somebody else beside you
to say, 'Hey, I'm here with you, let's do this.'
- Just the very idea that if you find yourself
in this place where you're missing the mark,
you've got two other people there,
you've got your group that you know are gonna step up
and take the reins if they need to.
- I had a bunch of fun, especially having
both of you here because like - It was fun.
- You can talk to each other. - Yeah, because we're like
looking at each other like
'Oh, wow, that's pretty cool.'
- [Blonde girl] Yeah.
- Burnout is a real thing
and it's a cruel twist
that the people who need to have the most empathy
can end up shutting others out because of it.
Like we said in the very first episode,
the world could use more empathy right about now.
After watching this series,
we hope you have to tools to know what empathy is,
how to show it and how to identity
why you give it some people and not to others.
But remember to love yourself too
and let others feel your pain.
If you strike the right balance,
you can help those around you
and keep it up for a long long time.
I'm Julian
and this has been
The Science of Empathy.
♪ SoulPancake ♪