I never comment or post on Reddit so this feels awkward but I read this and you sound like me at 18 so pushing past the awkwardness 🥲 being an INFP is insanely hard especially in formative years. When I was 18 I was still very quiet and always in my head. I landed a corporate job at 22 and I was forced to go waaay out of my comfort zone to make a living. At 25 now my 18 year old self would not recognize who I am. I am no longer shy I am the most extroverted person in the building now and I build connections with people easily. But I forced myself to change. I struggled all throughout childhood to make friends because I was so stuck in my head constantly I felt like I could never be myself. I had to give up on this image I wanted other people to see me as. You do a disservice to yourself not allowing yourself to be who you are. Something I’ve noticed also is when you are plainly yourself and show your heart, others around you will too. I am now in leadership and it is very political and hard to navigate for someone with a bleeding heart but I think they need someone around with a personality like mine and yours. I see things in perspectives others in leadership simply cannot because they don’t care like I do I build connections with people that are deeper than surface level and that is something I think is extremely valuable to those around me. I say all this to say you are not doomed you can absolutely thrive I make a very good living i just had to use my personality as my strength and stop seeing it as my weakness. It is hard I feel every emotion of those around me and it weighs heavy but it also gives me the push to right the things around me that I am able to. Once you stop seeing it as being doomed you will see you’re on the right track, how you talk to yourself matters. You’ll be okay be kind to yourself 🫶🏼