r/Empaths•
doctorace

Having trouble fining a career. Would like to use my intuition, but working with people feels overwhelming

I have been looking to move into a new career for the last two years. I haven't been able to find anything where the day-to-day work is satisfying, or at the very least, not exhausting or devestating.

I have been working in the tech sector, which I have hated for a variety of reasons. I tire so much of the "data-driven" approach to everything. I feel like one of my greatest skills and interest is in reading systems of people and their group dynamics, like my office or my Buddhist Center, or bigger systems like "transit riders."

I considered being an urban planner, but it is basically a job of crunching numbers and moving through bureaucratic red tape; most jobs that work with systems seem to be this way. I tried being a designer, but it requires communicating with people who lack self-awareness about what they are trying to communicate to everyone else. It was extremely frustrating.

I cannot be a social worker, therapist, nurse, or anything that works directly with people to help them. It would be downright exhausting. The only reason I have lasted this long in tech is because I am able to predominantly work from home (but there is constant pressure to come into the open-floor-plan office on a regular basis). This seems like the only sustainable way for me to work at the moment, though a different environment in a different industry may make that better.

TLDR; I'm interested in using my intuition to determine how human systems work and could work better, but this work is now all data-driven and very tedious. Working directly with people is extremely uncomfortable, and I can't imagine not working from home, alone. I am not sure what careers could work for me.

Posted Feb 21, 2016, 8:42 PM UTC

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