INFJ

I took the Myers-Briggs personality test for my management class today. I remember taking it back in middle school, or maybe the start of high school. We did it to see what types of careers we would fit in. I'm not even sure what I got, but I remember not taking much stock in what the blurb about it said. I also don't think I was totally honest on the test because I thought I already knew what I wanted to do. So today I took it, actually interested in what I got, and trying to be completely honest with my responses. My result was that I was an INFJ (introversion, intuition, feeling, judging). I then spent the next two hours reading all about the test as well as looking into what my type was. I was amazed by what I found. I still had some skepticism about it, but the more it read, the more I found what it said to be true. I know that things like this can only be so good because they have to stretch across a wide group of people, but when some online test can explain things that you didn't understand before, it seems pretty real.


What I found out about myself was that I am an interesting blend on intoverted and extroverted. I always knew that I was more introverted, but over the years I have become more open to people and to being involved in the world around me. That said, I still enjoy my peace and quiet, sitting down to read a book or go on a drive by myself. Some days I'm more open than others.


If you've never heard about this test or have never taken it, what I'm about to say may make no sense. I didn't know that much until I did my extensive reading this afternoon. Here's the basic breakdown. The MBTI sorts psychological differences into four opposite pairs, with a resulting 16 possible psychological types. This makes up your 4 letter code. Within your code, you have a dominant trait, which for me is introverted intuition. This is the one that you feel most comfortable in. The secondary Auxiliary function, for me extraverted feeling, serves to support and expand on the Dominant function. If the Dominant is an information gathering function (sensing or intuition), the Auxiliary is a decision making function (thinking or feeling), and vice versa. The third is the Tertiary function, for me introverted thinking, is less developed but it matures over time, rounding out your abilities. The Inferior function is the function you are least comfortable with, which is extraverted sensing for me. Basically though, they all work together to round out how you see and think and react to the world.


I was amazed to read how the different combinations worked together, not just my own, but others as well. I learned a lot about why I have always felt a bit split in myself. It explained about why people have called me an old soul. It helped explain my wanderlust, by weird "feelings" that are really just an intuition I can't explain. It showed why I'm both artsy and like the idea of a corporate world. How I'm a listener and will try to help other, but am willing to open up about myself and show who I really am and what I feel. That I have this need to be independent, that I am harsher on myself than anyone else and a bit of a perfectionist.


I also learned that my personality type if the smallest in the world. We are the ones that never quite feel at home in society, yet we tend to attract all other personality types and can be comfortable and happy. There does seem to be a disconnect though with the rest of the world. We're never fully here. We see two people in others, the face they show to the world and the person in their inner world. There is always something beyond appearances. We like ideas and theories, strive with creativity and a chance for new posibilities.

Lets just say that today has been a trip. I learned a lot. I learned some knew approaches for dealing with myself, which isn't always the easiest task for me. I had years of trying to discover myself, who I was, why I was the way I was. And lots of what I read about being an INFJ, I already knew, but it just helped to connect everything a little better. It's nothing life changing, but it helps sometimes to have some soul searching and to look into yourself.


Just something to think about.