The Best Careers To Honor Your Empathic Gifts

What is an empath, and why do they need a different type of career?

The best career for an empath is one that can help them honor their empathic gifts. An empath is someone who can feel the emotions and energy of other people really easily. If there is a negative vibe in an office environment, an empath has a hard time ignoring it. Empaths are usually highly creative and need lots of down time to process their incoming ideas. If the boss and coworkers are positive and the work is enjoyable, an empath will thrive!

My own career struggles

When I first began teaching years ago, I loved creating lessons for my students and collaborating with the other teachers. It was so fun to think about what skill I needed to teach my first graders and then come up with a creative and interesting way to teach that skill. For example, if we were teaching how to add numbers, my coworkers and I would create a game that made it fun. I also loved working with the students and watching them have a-ha moments.

Over time, the district I worked in began focusing on state testing scores and we began having to follow district lessons, along with more documentation and more student interventions. Eventually, we were only allowed to teach our lessons using the lesson plans and activities provided by the district specialists.

The parts of teaching that I loved the most were taken away from us. I no longer felt like I was in control and couldn’t use my creativity. That left discipline and data documentation as my only daily tasks, as well as reading through the pages and pages of pre-written lesson plans. I lost my joy.

On top of that, I had a principal that could sense my easy going, people-pleasing personality, and began giving me a really hard time. She would come through my classroom and give out lots of criticism and zero praise. I felt trapped by my yearly contract and needing the income to provide for my family.

Finally, I switched school districts and schools. I had a new, wonderful administration and was able to get back to my creativity and enjoying my students again. I was so happy and couldn’t believe I had put off making a change for so long. It took me becoming really miserable to finally make a move. I hope it doesn’t take that long for you!

Now, I am a full-time health coach, happily making my own schedule and using my creativity and passion for helping others.

What should an empath look for in a career?

Most empaths have the gift of deeply caring, whether that’s about people, animals, or plants. Empaths also need an environment that is positive and they feel comfortable to express their gifts.

1. Empaths should look for a career that lets them express their creativity, like being a writer, an artist, a musician or social media manager.
2. Careers in the helping professions can be great for empaths to express their caring for others if they develop strong boundaries. These include jobs like teaching, psychology, first responders, and jobs in the medical field.
3. Being an entrepreneur is a great choice because empaths can make their own schedule and choose the people they want to work with, like non-profits, consulting, coaching, product development and graphic design.
4. It will be important to find a work environment with kind and caring coworkers and a flexible schedule.

Career options that could make the empath unhappy

An empath needs to find a career that can help them honor their empathic gifts. Here are some things that may make the empath struggle at work.

-High stakes, full of pressure sales jobs
-Jobs with strict deadlines
-Any career that includes lots of negativity and complaining, such as human resources or technical support

Benefits of working with the empath

Empaths are highly caring individuals and if they have a great work environment and believe in the cause, they will be the most loyal and generous employees. They work hard to make sure employers, coworkers and customers are happy.

Get Support

If you need support with family relationships, boundary problems or health symptoms from being an empath, I offer one on one coaching and a group program. You can check those out here.

Be sure you have joined the Facebook group Rebooting Health For Empaths to get all of the Weekly Intentions, plus live videos on The Empath Reset show.