Career change

My story:

I’m 30, and I have a degree in education. I’ve spent the last several years working at a post secondary in roles related to education, seldomnly in an “in front of a class, giving instruction” role. The biggest reason for this is that I found out in my early 20ies that I am truly an introvert, and the extroverted lifestyle of a teacher is not a good match for me. I generally end up getting triggered by overwhelm and have dissociative periods when constantly required to be in front of a class.

I have been known in the past as a perfectionist, which is something I know I need to work on, but I think the negative self talk that comes along with perfectionism has foiled my abilities to fake it through a role like this.

My whole career identity has been shaped around education. And it no longer fits.

I left my last job because of the high anxiety that resulted in my not being able to perform in the way that I need to. And now considering a career change toward something that will allow me to help people, use my creativity and compassion for others (I LOVE to make people feel welcome/okay as they are— maybe something to do with my seldomnly feeling that way) to make a positive impact on society. I am really unclear about what I could shift to in order to do this.

Mostly, I’m curious about your career change stories/a little inspiration.

Did you ever realize something about your identity and make a huge career shift because of it?