You really need to look at your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your likes and dislikes. Get close friends and family to help you brainstorm things they think you are good and not so good at. The solution is not always obvious. When I was an older teen, I wanted to work with animals or young children, or to do something involving my love of science. I did not want a career that would involve dealing with people (apart from kids) all the time, as I was very socially anxious.
I began studying science at uni, but did not do well, and dropped out because I could not see myself getting into a job where I felt comfortable and satisfied (plus I was failing subjects!). I fluffed around for a while, and picked up some work doing childminding. I decided to follow my desire to work with kids, and went to train as a nurse, with the idea of eventually working with kids. I found my hospital placements stressful, due to dealing with people, but there were loads of interesting things to see and learn that kept me from giving up.
Once I got work as a nurse, I found that I had to confront my social anxieties rather than avoiding them, and this actually reduced my anxiety levels as time went on, despite being very stressful initially. I found that dealing directly with people’s needs meant I could not procrastinate much of my work, so it got done (it’s hard to put off a request to be taken to the toilet lol). And dealing with people also kept things interesting, due to the social interaction that I would have once avoided.
I never ended up working in a children’s unit. I ended up finding my niche with my first full time job, in disability rehab, where the patients are there long enough for me to get to know them (which reduces my anxieties over meeting new people), but are not there long enough for them to get irritating and for my work to feel “stagnant” and boring. It is a slower paced job than acute care hospitals, so I don’t get flustered by constantly having to be somewhere, do something, remember too many things, change from one thing to another rapidly, and deal with frequent interruptions and distractions. I have routines, so that my poor memory isn’t constantly being challenged, but they are varied enough to keep my attention where it belongs for the short space of time needed. I still have to be reminded regularly not to overlook/forget the “tedious” tasks (restocking, audits, collecting water jugs, taking out full linen bags, etc), and I have to use my phone alarm to remind me of important things that have not become integrated into my routines, but the job has been a blessing and I am over the moon I found one to suit me.
So just remember to think outside the box. Looking back, I seemed to “know” when I investigated a job whether it would suit me. I kept “forgetting” to apply for jobs that I had told myself I would like, but deep down I knew that I would not have had the motivation and initiative to cope with those jobs as a whole, even though parts of the jobs were very appealing. Nursing just seemed to feel right, despite my terror over having to deal with people as a basic function of my job.
Well, that’s probably way more info than you were after, but I just had to explain myself 🙄 Sorry 