Careers for highly sensitive people (orchid child)

[Wearegettingthere]

What sort of careers would you suggest for a highly sensitive person?DD likes acting but that is a competitive world. She doesn’t want to do office jobs. I thinking working for herself would suit her best. Something like therapist, acupuncturist, etc. She is very creative, perspective, imaginative but doesn’t cope well in stressful environments.

How about Mumsnet moderator, that's enough to toughen anyone up, but you can walk away from the computer when it gets too much

Not sure how many of the roles are actually paid though!

Spartacus’ theory. Post about an obscure book and disappear from thread. Let another poster find said book and oh gosh isn’t it popular.

I think people are being mean! The OP isn't saying my daughter is a bit sensitive so she shouldn't have to work, she's asking which kind of career might suit someone who is sensitive i.e. has a more reactive nervous system. The only problem is that careers that cater to that kind of person are few and far between and so highly competitive in their own way. Overall though its good to have self knowledge early on and be realistic about the kind of work you would be able to to do long term. I understand people hate it when people label themselves and see it as a way of saying how special they are but if you look at it another way it's just self awareness.

OP it probably is best if you and your daughter keep her Highly sensitive label to yourself as people will just roll their eyes but again I think its really great that she has this self knowledge at a young age.

I was talking about this with DS2 (12) who is very sensitive. He is very social, has many friends but def is more sensitive than his classmates. He hates being sensitive and crying easily and goes to a psychologist to help him manage his emotions. I try to tell him that on the plus side he has got a lot of friends just because he's sensitive (many girls as friends as well) and that he's empathetic and caring and always helps his friends out when they are feeling low.

I know he couldn't work in the medical field because he can't stand blood. Neither in a highly competitive field where he will get overwhelmed. A part from that there are many career options open so I told him that having evinced some options he should focus on what he really enjoys.

I never knew these labels, I feel more like the grass or leaves, the supporting role for the flowers so they can shine!

@picomega The OP doesn't need to be trying to think of a career that might suit her dd. The dd is old enough to be doing that herself; she is already at drama college and doesn't seem to be having any issues with it.

Humans are social animals. We are ALL sensitive and responsive to others.

Tjose who aren’t are labelled as sociopaths. That’s how normal being sensitive is.

I hate the idea that people are less extraordinary because they are resilient, or don’t cry easily, or whatever.

The dandelion /orchid thing maps onto aristocrat/servant or the idea that some people are just lesser humans because they are not visibly obviously “sensitive.” And that the dandelions can be treated any old how because, of course, they’re not “sensitive “. It’s awful.

It’s a load of bollocks. We are all sensitive responsive humans. It’s part of the way we’ve survived and thrived in evolutionary terms, in a world with a myriad of hazards for our weak vulnerable bodies.

The OP’s child sounds like a normal teenager who has no idea what she wants to do when she’s grown up and who may find the very idea of growing up a bit scary. For a lot of people, it is!

What is it with threads today? So may where the OP makes one post and then doesn't come back

@ParmaVioletTea and @Emptyandsad - take a look at the OP's other thread. She does come back on that one, and her dd seems to be doing just fine. She hasn't labelled herself as 'sensitive' or anything else, she seems like any ordinary fairly reserved teenager to me. It is the OP who has this 'orchid child' label stuck in her head, not the dd.

But the answer should be totally bleedingly obvious though? If you're a "highly sensitive orchid" then don't become an A&E surgeon, don't work in retail during the Christmas rush, don't get a telemarketing job cold calling strangers for commission.

Surely most people can guess from the job description whether or not that working environment suits them. Or they have personal interests that will make a certain career more appealing. It's impossible to give any advice without knowing more about the interests and education level of the person.

The thread comes across like OP wants suggestions based on "highly sensitive person" as the entire job qualification. So counsellor, aura reader, crystal collector or something?

I am not highly sensitive but I do have issues with authority and hate being bossed around. I accept this is my character flaw and it’s pretty deep seated so it’s something I’ve had to work around. I also have ASD, which I think is linked to this. I am now a self employed maths tutor and I love it. Love working with the kids to help them achieve their goals.

Many of them are home ed so they often have ADHD or ASD and I see a bit of myself in them in terms of their response to being “told what to do”. I’m their teacher so I do have to do a bit of telling them what to do, but because of my own disposition I have some good work arounds so they think it’s their idea to do quadratic equations.

If you’re someone who’s outside the norm, you need to use your weaknesses to your advantage. I now have a rep as someone who can deal with “difficult” kids and reluctant learners and my results speak for themselves. It’s because at heart, I am a just a grown up problem child. I can’t speak for someone highly sensitive because I’m definitely not, but hopefully you can work with her to find something similar that harnesses her sensitivity and makes it a positive.

One thing I will say though is there’s not a job in the world that doesn’t involve taking criticism. She needs to get that down asap.

Its a forum so the OP is at perfect liberty to ask. Also its useful for finding out that professions she might imagine as suitable are actually more stressful or competitive than she thought.

I apologise but presumably there are also less stressful roles with none critical patients but if not I am sorry

Also in addition to my above post, I look back on my responses to authority when I was younger and a lot of it was arrogance. I thought I could do it better, thought I could run the show ect. That was something I needed to overcome and overcoming it only came from some pretty brutal experiences. I feel like she will run into similar so you should prepare her for that. Also being self employed is hard and takes resilience, responsiveness and normally a delayed return on investments. You’ve got to be able to accept X doesn’t work, we need to learn and try Y. People sometimes think being self employed is easy, but it’s actually not. I get “must be nice to be your own boss” alll the time. Yes, it is, but it’s also actually really difficult. For me it’s easier than managing other people but for a lot of people it’s probably their nightmare job.

I’d start by not labelling your child as a flower.

As a rule of thumb, if you’re averse to stress and conflict then healthcare isn’t the place for you 👍

Nor does Truss.

I had to google Orchid child. I think special snowflake is the translation

This with bells on.

The world will not give a single shiny shit that she's sensitive. The ONLY thing you can do to help, is to keep exposing her to things that will build up her resilience.

Agree.

I was a right arrogant, know-it-all little twat in my late teens/early 20s. I'd been bright, successful and well-liked all through school, and getting out into the real world was a real shock. I found jobs HARD, and not everyone seemed to be my biggest fan.
I learnt some really brutal lessons in my 20s, including some humility. And although it was horrible, I came out a better person in the end.

I'm still awful with authority though. :) I'm 70:30 self-employed to employed. And if a boss I don't respect tries to tell me what to do... I've had to really work on my responses.

Search history shows no other threads…had them removed?

It's in the 'Work' topic. Still there now.

Exactly this - why people would think any kind of therapy or counselling is stress free is beyond me.

OP, rather than rearranging the world around your daughter, perhaps you would be better off encouraging her to become more of a dandelion.

With respect - adulthood is a stressful environment.

If she can't handle stress or competition/rejection, maybe she should reconsider office jobs although they can be stressful/competitive too. The world does not owe her an easy living.

So many bitchy comments on here.

Many parents of ND kids meanwhile will absolutely understand the worry.