@TunedOut, This is very similar to what my therapist has been telling me too. I have actually been told by therapists that I should be a therapist myself quite a few times now. And I share that not in a way of "touting" any sort of superiority what so ever. My therapist has taken the time to explain to me that I am an empath and while that is a gift, it can also get emotionally draining and that I DO need to step back from it and practice more self care. Part of the reason I would make a good therapist is that I do show ability to sit with individuals privately and hear them and discuss how they can look at things differently empowering themselves. Actually, I did this when I experienced a post traumatic stress breakdown and ended up exhausted mentally, psychologically, physically, emotionally and ended up in a psych ward when that was the wrong place for me to go. I sat at a table with others who were struggling and sharing and when it came to my turn the first thing I did was address each of them before even sharing my own challenge. Well, these individuals ended up following me around wanting more and I realized how at that time I needed to focus on myself and my own healing. Yet, that was NOT the place I could do so.

One of my constant problems tends to be "Well if you know this then why are YOU struggling yourself?". The only one that could understand that was in fact a qualified trauma therapist that specializes in working with trauma patients. I do suffer from a mental illness called PTSD, there is no cure for it, some have it worse than others, and what someone who has it has to learn is how to manage it. And even with that, I do my best to share anything I have learned to do just that, it's no cake walk. And that in itself also is something that people can get that experience it differently depending on their own personal history and brain wiring too. It's not unusual for two individuals suffering from ptsd to trigger each other because of that too.