Hi Rachel and Kristen,
Thanks to everyone who has been posting lately and sharing their experiences. This forum is really such a unique place to be able to speak to these challenges that we are facing in our lives and in our work. I, too, am a Firestarter who is introverted, and HSP. One of the things I recall Elaine Aaron saying in her book is that HSPs are affected more by a situation that is not right for them than others would be, and on the other hand HSPs really shine and are brilliant when they find the situations that are right for them.
What occurs to me and what I wanted to share with Caela is that I think it is so wonderful that you had such a great experience traveling and speaking French and feeling so alive, with an emphasis on the FEELING ALIVE part. Maybe it would be good to take some time to recall those feelings and become even more specific about them. When did you feel that in Europe, what were you doing, where were you, who were you with, and then keep those feelings close to you by putting photos in your room, journaling about them or speaking them into your phone, whatever works for you. Those may all contain clues about what you want to do next. I guess I feel that inevitably when the days go by you might start to forget, you get busy or someone talks you out of the feelings because of their gremlins. This has certainly happened to me where I was told those passionate feelings were ok for then, but then “Get real” or that isn’t real life or whatever when that can’t be further from the truth. The alive feeling IS the real thing. Hope this helps. You’re already so much more aware than most!????