It was 2017 when I first discovered I have to spend my life as an Introvert in an extrovert world, thanks to the Myer Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Taking the test I discovered my personality and I was surprised: INFJ, one percent of the population, โฆ really?
And it was the beginning of a long period of self-discovery that continues today.
“The personality type of the INFJ has an innate sense of idealism and morality. An INFJ will act with creativity and sensitivity to create balance and talent for a warm language, speaking in human terms. But they need time alone to decompress and reload or they can find themselves exhausted, unhealthy and stressed.”
16personalities.com
I’ve never heard the introversion described this way before. It has always been to choose to be alone or be shy.
To say that I refer to INFJ is a euphemism.
Since childhood, my lingua franca is that of the mind and of the heart, of the quiet that allows me to really listen and see and above all to be.
Having grown up, I made choices about how I spend my time. I like reading, writing, baking, and knitting. I do not like the phone, preferring to be in touch via email or text.
There are very few people whose company I would choose for long periods of time.
I can be very energetic and outgoing one day, but then the next day I feel drained and need to rest and be alone. I do my best to tailor my world to my needs.
But it’s not that simple.
It never is, right? I walk, every day, through the extroverted world.
Beyond all of that, the world we live in today is very closed minded and apathetic and so thereโs an issue with harmony in general.
The reality is that I do my best, for example, whenever I come to visit anyone, I will offer myself to do any act of service I can. For me is a must when you are visiting someone, and I took special care to hammer that custom into my daughters.
Sometimes I am a little bit distant because all I want is to be left to myself so I could read and figure things out myself.
Life as an introvert is somewhat lonely. Other than my husband (an INTJ), my daughters, my parents, and a few close friends, I rarely speak to anyone else. I wish I had more friends to hang out but I struggle to fit with the people that surround me, so I entertain myself and doing projects with my family, which I’m always busy with.
While labels may be restrictive and limiting, identifying myself as INFJ has helped me to better understand who I am. The truth is, I am just different than most people and I really like myself.