its hard to answer this without. acknowledging the literal difference.

empathy is the ability to relate to, and sympathy is to attempt to understand. to sympathize with someone is to care for them, no matter your knowledge on whats happening, while empathy is. to go through things together.

those are the literal differences... how would i view them any differently?

i often feel more sympathy than empathy for sure. i try pretty hard not to feel empathetic for people, because every time i do, people tend to get really attached to me for some reason (well, the reason is? because i would be empathetic, and someone who tries to relate to, i guess), which ends up hurting them in the end. not in an edgy way at all! just... like, genuinely, it's sort of always safer to be sympathetic.

it's only my closest people who i feel total empathy for. no matter how far away an issue is, from me, it becomes mine, because we're so close. always empathy, with them.