Hello all!
As someone who eats a plant based diet, I’ll often find threads on here about Veganism.
And there is a pattern I notice around lack of holistic thinking relative to this topic... and others.
Lots of more intellectual and logic-based perspectives and not a lot of credence given to heart-based perspectives.
For example, someone might share the truth that... ‘There is no way to stop causing suffering to other beings. We kill so many life-forms every time we step on the grass.’ OR ‘Plants are alive too.’ And the list goes on.
And these are perfectly true and logical perspectives. But they are often used to bypass and overlook more heart-centered perspectives like the darker and grittier empathy we can realize when we observe the suffering of another sentient being.
So, these more intellectual truths often insulate a person from the awareness of how they really feel about animal suffering.
This isn’t the only topic this happens in relation to. Lots of elevating mind-based perspectives over heart-based perspectives in general. It’s just the clearest example of this.
The main point here is to say that, if you value becoming multi-perspectival and holistic in you POV, you must integrate the heart-based POV.
And you must be discerning enough to know which perspective is wisest to take in any given situation. We can use truths from either perspective to lie to ourselves. That’s how sneaky self-deception can be.
Sometimes, the logic/mind-based perspectives will be wisest. Other times, choosing this perspective will lead to major blind spots, rationalizations of “devilry”, and intellectual bypassing.
Sometimes, the heart-centered perspective will be wisest. Other times, choosing this perspective will lead you into ungroundedness and distorted thinking.
Basically, with regard to Veganism and topics like it... don’t bring a knife to a gun fight. 

I have chronic sensitivity towards others and their feelings. For instance, just today I was at Trader Joes. I noticed before that this Trader Joes always has a rotating staff, or at least a very big one. I never see the same people in there consistently. I thought one time, "Hm. You know what, I always see new workers when I'm here." Yet today, I saw a guy two days in a row, so when he said, "Hey! Did I see you yesterday?" at the cash register I said, "Yes!", and I told him about my thoughts of never seeing the same people in there twice. 

Immediatly after I said that, I felt as if I offended his coworker next to him. What if I had seen him before and didn't recognize it and now I had just said that? I now have chronic anxiety/anxiousnesses, overthinking, guilt, regret, etc. This happens often and I'm needing to get to the bottom of my chronic overthinking, chronic over-analyzing and hypersensitvity. I'm super careful and nuerotic of the words I use constantly because I know how much weight they could carry and what they could imply. But this overthinking and anxiousness is driving me mad! Even though I've had it my entire life. 

I was thinking this problem might stem from some sort of self-obsession– why do I believe I have influence over other's feelings? Yet, I feel this way even if it's not me saying or doing anything. If it's someone I am with that is acting in a way I feel would offend someone or make them feel humilated or guilty I have the same reaction. I understand its good to have empathy but I feel like this is an extreme level of mindfulness/consideration and it drives my mind right into paranoia.

Also, I don't think this comes from a past experience of hurt, at least not one I can remember! I did fine in school socially and always surrounded myself with friends who were more mature than that.

Any advice?