Did my question arouse your curiosity? I get so many questions from highly sensitive people about right livelihood. It seems the majority of people feel like a square peg in a round hole. Their choice of career doesn’t fit their personalities and interests.

Can you relate to this? Are you in a career that is not fulfilling? Are you in a career that just fills the need to make money? If so, you’re not alone. Highly sensitive or not, it’s important to be in your right environment, one that makes the best use of your talents and interests.

For me, I realized at a young age that I couldn’t work in a pressurized environment where I was constantly being watched and evaluated. That traumatic experience first came in an institution called “school.”

Talk about being a square peg in a round hole! I never fit in with the traditional school system. I needed an environment that would allow me to learn and grow at my own pace. How can you be expected to learn when you are nervous all of the time?

I don’t blame the school system for this dilemma. That’s the way it was when I was a child, and to some extent, that’s the way it is now. We have to take responsibility for our lifelong pursuit of self exploration and what it takes to make us happy.

How many of us have gravitated into careers based on circumstance rather than giving the proper thought to what’s best for us? Unfortunately too many of us have done this. Ongoing written self-evaluation is critical to understanding your wants and needs. Below are some tips:

• What are your interests and skills? Build your life around them. I love to write and have a deep interest in personal development. What “sings” to you?
• What’s important to you? Helping others, experiencing a variety of challenges, and working on my own at my own pace are important to me. What are the personal buzzwords for you?
• Research careers on and off-line. Go to the library or on-line to learn more. Ask other people about their careers. If you know someone who is in a career that interests you, interview them. Perhaps you can get more insight into the work or some suggestions as to how to get started in that field.
• Don’t be afraid to try different things. Sometimes you need to have new experiences to find yourself. Volunteering and taking on temporary positions will give you on the job training to figure out your likes and dislikes.
• Consider self-employment. That’s the path that I chose for over 35 years. We are all self-employed whether we like it or not. We trade our time for the money we receive. There’s no such thing as job security in today’s world. Not everyone could or should have their own business. We’re all different. Perhaps you might consider having a part-time solo business. If you work for someone, it might be in your interest, as a highly sensitive person, to have some degree of independence, so that you can work at your own pace.
• Use your HSP intuition to guide you. Don’t be afraid to use what you know is right for you. The biggest mistakes that I’ve made in life occurred when I went against something that I instinctively knew was not right for me.

Are you a square peg in a round hole? I’m interested in any thoughts or comments that you have.

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