Reading this was immensely therapeutic. Thank you for writing it.
As an ambitious and highly sensitive INFP, who also worked in marketing and sales, I struggled for decades trying to balance my introversion (which I love) with being and HSP (which I also love,) in a world which left me exhausted and depressed, which I hate!
Like you, I cried on the phone to my mum when I was travelling to work, cried in the toilets, and even faked sick days to avoid the daily microagressions. Indirect and (not so) subtle jabs about introverts, about my character, and critiscms cloaked as constructive criticisms plagued my days as a marketing professional. I eventually left that field to go into web development. It's easier (I'm surrounded by other introverts and HSPs), but it's an industry that is slowly succumbing to the extrovert way of life as extroverted managers are being shipped in to tackle the "scary quiet" and take down the introverts with dreadful team lunches, endless meetings, way too many away days. . .
So I thank you for putting into words the struggles of the ambitious and sensitive introvert.
Pepper (not verified)says...
Reading this was immensely therapeutic. Thank you for writing it.
As an ambitious and highly sensitive INFP, who also worked in marketing and sales, I struggled for decades trying to balance my introversion (which I love) with being and HSP (which I also love,) in a world which left me exhausted and depressed, which I hate!
Like you, I cried on the phone to my mum when I was travelling to work, cried in the toilets, and even faked sick days to avoid the daily microagressions. Indirect and (not so) subtle jabs about introverts, about my character, and critiscms cloaked as constructive criticisms plagued my days as a marketing professional. I eventually left that field to go into web development. It's easier (I'm surrounded by other introverts and HSPs), but it's an industry that is slowly succumbing to the extrovert way of life as extroverted managers are being shipped in to tackle the "scary quiet" and take down the introverts with dreadful team lunches, endless meetings, way too many away days. . .
So I thank you for putting into words the struggles of the ambitious and sensitive introvert.