INFJ - I'm in good company.

Thursday, March 27

Astrology, has never been my thing. Frankly, I can look at the description of every sign on the zodiac and find some way to connect with the prediction. Aries' have determination and competitive inclinations? Yep, that's me, as witnessed by anyone who's ever sat next to me while I was playing a game of spades. Taurus' are dependable yet stubborn? Check. Check. Scorpios are passionate and resourceful; Capricorns are responsible and traditional, as am I... I could go on and on, and on, so I take every horoscope reading with a super huge grain of sea salt.

On the other hand, I'm a sucker for personality tests. The fact that certain studies can analyze a set of specific answers and assume to know intricate details about how I'm wired is impressive, especially when it's spot on. Awhile back, I took this test based on a "typological approach to personality." 72 answers later I was reading things about myself that I didn't even realize were true. I've taken the test multiple times, and I still end up with the same result: INFJ - Introvert, iNtuitive, Feeling & Judging.

I once heard someone say that we all have introversion and extroversion tendencies, but one is usually more dominant than the other. I wholeheartedly agree. Most days I love meeting and interacting with new people. It's always like a little adventure whenever I'm in a room full of individuals I hardly know. I'll reach out, engage in conversation and make an honest connections, but I don't thrive in those kind of situations like extroverts do. Instead of gaining energy from being in a larger group or crowd, I expend it. There have been countless times where I've gone home after an evening of hanging out with new people and felt drained, mentally. So I'll sit on my couch, read a book or watch some television and recharge. If I let a weekend pass me by without some solid alone time for at least a couple hours - even if it's just to surf the Internet while indulging in a CSI: Miami mini marathon - I head back to work on Monday morning feeling tired, groggy and unmotivated.

According to the test, however, there's more to reading someone's personality than determining whether they're and introvert or an extrovert.
"INFJs are distinguished by both their complexity of character and the unusual range and depth of their talents. They are sometimes mistaken for extroverts because they appear so outgoing and are so genuinely interested in people... Usually self-expression comes more easily to INFJs on paper, as they tend to have strong writing skills. They often possess a strong personal charisma [and] are selective about their friends."
Intuition vs. sensing, feeling vs. thinking and judging vs. perceiving all play a big role in how a particular personality can be understood. There were so many articles explaining each component that I started going down a rabbit hole while trying to read everything. Ultimately, I know there's nothing I can read online [or in any book written by someone who's never met me] that will help me understand myself better than I already do. My identity can't be completely summed up using four general factors, but it still made for an interesting distraction from whatever I was supposed to be doing at the time.


P.S. Famous INFJs include Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mel Gibson and Jamie Foxx. I'd say I'm in good company.


♥