Is there a point where a person can lose their capacity to care? I don’t mean because of a brain disorder, like dementia, but maybe due to feeling so much grief, feeling over-burdened with pain. Can a person be so diminished in having the capacity to care about others, even about those they have cared about for years?
In grief, I know I have felt so fatigued. I have felt I could not do my best or give a lot of help to anyone for some time. But I don’t think I ever stopped caring about anyone.
I wonder if some grieving people just stop caring - they don’t call, they don’t show interest in how another is doing. Do they think of others but just not reach out? I don’t know. But I would rather it be that they just lost their capacity to care due to the weight of grief, rather than they just stop caring. Then I could understand, then I don’t have to feel so neglected when a grieving person just doesn’t bother to keep in touch. I don’t have to take it personally. Don’t get me wrong. I still reach out to them, but at some point, when the reaching isn’t reciprocated, it reminds me of feeling neglected, unwanted, as when “friends” don’t bother to call or meet up anymore. That’s what it feels like - I don’t like that feeling. But it’s okay if the person has just lost the capacity to care. I understand. No rejection, no blame. That’s just life. And I pray that their grief will ease. Theresa M
