A manager who had elective surgery last month has recently returned to work after being on short-term medical leave. She is still very sore and feels easily exhausted. She came to me to complain not realizing that it’s how I feel on a good day.  She will be working part-time from home because it’s simply too difficult and demanding to come in the office every day.

I find that I’m struggling with empathy and I don’t like it. All I could think of is that I get myself to work every single day. That I don’t have the luxury of staying home and resting, because my situation isn’t temporary. It’s never going to get any better. I just have to live with it. I cried at my desk after she left. You can talk until your face turns blue and people simply don’t get it.

In the same day, another coworker who…