Are you an empath? Are you the type of person who is extra sensitive to the mental, physical, and emotional energies around them? If you find yourself very moved by the feelings and struggles of others, and especially if sometimes your feelings of empathy sometimes manifest as physical pain, you might be an empath. An empath is like a conduit for the energy around them, often absorbing both the positive and negative flows of emotion from other people. While this makes empaths extraordinarily understanding and caring people, it can also be a very exhausting and draining way to be.
If you’re an empath, you probably have learned to be careful about the emotional situations you put yourself in. You’re still a warm and caring soul, though, so you will be drawn to helping and aiding those in distress. But what is the best way to channel your skill as an empath into a career that can help you maintain balance in your own energy while also allowing you to be a positive force for good in the world?
These three degree options may be the perfect career and life balance options for an empath:
Social Work
As always, an empath must be careful not to give too much of their own emotional energy to others, but social work is a field where empaths can connect with and help others. Many public and private universities offer social work degrees online, including bachelor’s and master’s level programs. One important thing for empaths to keep in mind if they are considering social work is that they not be put in a position where they have to take on a caseload that’s too large. Empaths do best if they can focus their incredible insights on just a limited number of people at a time.
Why social work? An empath’s intuition can make them powerful allies for those in need, which can make them especially effective case workers in many areas of social work. So consider your particular strengths and skills when you are choosing a particular avenue of social work to specialize in.
Nursing
Of course an empath will come rushing to the aid of those they sense are in need, so healthcare is a career field they naturally gravitate toward. While your first instinct may be to choose a nursing field like emergency or triage, those high energy, high stress environments may prove to be too emotionally challenging for the average empath. Consider nursing fields like neonatal, occupational health, geriatrics, or pediatrics where your number of patients is slightly more limited so you can focus your energy rather than becoming too scattered and overwhelmed. There are many online degree programs to earn your RN, so you should be able to explore exactly which would be the best fit for you.
Education
Chances are, most empaths will have considered teaching when they consider their future career paths. Your sensitivity makes you a natural fit to help nurture students and to foster a warm learning environment. If you’re the sort of empath who likes a sense of order, teaching may be a perfect career fit for you. Online degrees in education have never been easier to get, so this is one of the most accessible career switches you can choose. If you’ve always felt drawn to education, this may be a sign that you should become a teacher.
