To pick, or not to pick?

I come from a classical guitar and folk banjo (clawhammer) background, and I never used a pick.  Always finger pickin'. Now that I am learning dulcimer for the last four years or so, I find it really awkward to use a pick -- hard to strum with it and difficult to hold on to. I drop a flat pick a lot. Yet, I see others doing just fine with it.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Sometimes if I want a really sharp twangy sound, I will use one.

No other dulcimerist I know plays the way I do. In a group, it may be a little hard to make and equivalent  volume to compete with the others. My problem, not theirs. Therefore, I am thinking of electrifying my MD with an external pickup and a small easily portable amplifier.

Is that a good idea, or just a waste of money? I figure I could get into the game for under $200 with reasonably good equipment. Yet I know I cannot become a good musician just by spending money.

Your thoughts, please?

. . . Bill in NM