I often come across as cold and unsympathetic, severe and uncompassionate.

That’s because I’m extremely empathetic, toward all life. I don’t even kill bugs. But I know too much. I’m aware of mass suffering around the world, needless and preventable.

I’ll give myself little spaces of time to just sit and think about everything, and it just turns into ugly weeping. You can’t function like that. The only way I can get through my day is by turning that dial waaaay down outside of my designated mourning time.