I was asking because I thought maybe you might be on the Aspergers spectrum somewhere. I have some of the same things going on and I've taken a few tests that show I might be somewhere on the spectrum. I show a decent amount of atypical processing, but most people experience me as 'normal'. I think I mostly just learned how to adapt and blend in. Like you, I process emotion well and have great empathy. I really struggle in crowds though and my senses are easily overloaded. I also have a tendency to hyperfocus. I love teams, but I don't really like social groups. I do better with one or two people at a time.

Just food for thought. I'm not trying to diagnose you, but a couple of things you mentioned made it cross my mind.