INFJs

[Graceeeeee]

Hi,

This is a thread for people with the INFJ personality type from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

INFJs are the rarest type out of the 16 personality types from the MBTI. Many INFJs experience anxiety and/or depression due to not fitting in anywhere. INFJ stands for: Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, and Judgement.

I found that I fit the descriptions of this personality type last year (I actually underwent a professional personality testing before that and got the INFJ result but paid no attention to it) when I was doing a research task for school. Ever since then I've been very grateful for finally finding a description that fits how I feel and who I am. Knowing about my personality type has helped me discover more about myself and feel more at ease with who I am.

I've talked to INFJs online and found that a lot of us suffer from one form of mental illness or another. So this is a social space for INFJs needing a place to belong, to talk about things that are hard to talk about, or find out more about this amazing personality type.

But! Notice I said this is a social space--If you are dealing with serious issues at the moment, you should consider seeking professional help, to begin with, you can look up information from the BeyondBlue website. Of course anyone is welcomed to join, but do not rely on this forum to recover from a serious mental illness.

A social space can be anything from lighthearted and fun, to a deep and personal safe space for understanding and support. So when you click into this thread--first things first--remember to not be afraid of being yourself (as a lot of us tend to do)!

Enjoy!!

With Love,

Grace xx

[Graceeeeee]

Hey startingnew,

Thank you for sharing. When I started paying attention to INFJ traits I found that they explain me so well. Since then I've read articles about this type and I've joined groups on Facebook to find like-minded people. Finding out what their personality type is has a different effect on different people, for me the effect was huge. I feel like I am discovering slowly who I am, and yet it is still just a tip of the iceberg. This has been a very meaningful journey to me, which is why I started this thread.

Have a good evening 🙂

With Love,

Grace xx

[Just Sara]

Hi Grace;

I'm an ENTJ which isn't really up your alley. But my interest as a peer supporter is relative.

My psychologist did her thesis on the Briggs Mayer/Carl Jung testing theory. She's quite a barrel of info. Actually, we had nearly a whole session on her thesis which I happily agreed to. She felt my inquisitive mind would lap it up.

This thread interests me from what you've written. I've changed over the yrs from INTJ to ENTJ. Introvert to extrovert. Life does this sometimes.

Anyway, I'll be reading as the thread grows and may contribute here and there if that's ok.

Best of luck...

Sara

[Clues_Of_Blue]

Hi Grace,

It's entirely possible we've spoken about personality types before - it's a fascination of mine, and I think I pointed you toward my thread about it here in the Social Zone once upon a time. I'm not an INFJ, I'm an INTP, but I'm not without some knowledge on your type.

A dear friend of mine is an INFJ, a rare type indeed, and like you she has found the knowledge of what her type is to be a great boon in understanding herself. There was a time she thought she was an extrovert as she cares deeply about others, and couldn't understand why people contact exhausted her so much. In that way she has found a whole new understanding of herself and how to cope with human interaction. From what I've read, that's not an uncommon thing for an INFJ.

Personally I have enjoyed learning about my type, it's explained a few things about how I process information and experiences, and how I do (or don't) relate to other types. Would love to hear how knowing your type has helped you in life and understanding yourself.

Blue.

[startingnew]

Hiya Grace

This personality thing is still really new to me.

How did you start to find yourself? Im quite lost really and dont know who i am anymore so id be interested to know Grace how you began your journey of discovery?

[Graceeeeee]

Hi Sara,

Of course you are welcomed to observe as you wish or join in anytime 🙂 I'm glad this interests you. Your psychologist sounds interesting, she does sound knowledgeable indeed. It's also very interesting how your introverted tendencies shifted towards extroverted ones. I've actually read an article that talked about how therapy can sometimes slightly shift people's personalities, before then I've always believed that we are all born with our personalities that can't be changed. Got me to think again about who I am. Have you heard of the nature vs nurture debate? It's basically a debate where some scientists believe we are born to be who we are, whilst some believe our environment and upbringing are what shape us. Nowadays they tend to believe it's a mix of both, so do I.

The Myer-Briggs' 16 personalities all fascinate me, because people always say that it describes them really well (at least better than the ones we've had before).

So anyways, I'm really interested in this stuff as you can see, and again, this thread is open to everyone! Have a nice evening Sara 🙂

With Love,

Grace xx

[Graceeeeee]

Hey Blue,

Thanks for popping by 🙂 I actually can't recall you talking about your thread, I am very sorry, my brain does that sometimes. Although I am very interested in personalities, especially these 16 Myers-Briggs personalities.

Yes your friend's situation sounds very common for INFJs. Same thing for me. I was quite shy but I liked interacting with people, so I was very confused as to whether I actually liked people or not. I liked to have deep connections but I found myself not wanting to be around people. Discovering about the INFJ personality has helped me tremendously. I now understand that these contradictions are part of my personality, this really helps me understand and accept myself, which is why I started the thread, so that people (not only INFJs but anyone who struggles with identity) can take notice of their personalities and discover more about themselves.

How has learning about your personality type helped you? How did you find out about it? I love to discuss about this type of stuff. Have a great evening Blue.

Hugs,

Grace xx 🙂

[Graceeeeee]

Hey startingnew,

I first started taking notice of my personality type last year around this time. I remember going a school project for Society and Culture (a subject I'm doing), we had to make something creative to explain who we are. I searched around for introvert comics, because at the time I already knew I was introverted, and came across this title 'the rarest personality type in the world', I was curious so I clicked the article to read. The article described some personality traits for this 'rarest type', and I was immediately very intrigued because all the descriptions fit me. It was like I finally found someone who completely understood me for the first time. Turns out the personality was INFJ, I then recalled that I had done a professional personality test for my school's career day, so I found my file and it confirmed that indeed I was an INFJ. So that's basically how it all came about.

The website from which I found the article is called Introvert Spring, it's co-founded by two introverts, one of them INFJ. They post great articles about interesting facts and tips for introverts like us, they also have a forum where INFJs chat about daily life or deeper stuff, so if you're interested that's a website I would definitely recommend.

Another thing that's helped me discover more recently is a Facebook group called INFJs are awesome, and to my knowledge there are a bunch of other groups for INFJs too. People like to share articles about this personality type and discuss daily life in these groups, so if you'd like to be a part of an INFJ community, a Facebook group is a great place to start.

Besides these, I also read many articles about personality types, because I follow such pages on Facebook, I would also search on Google, but mainly I'm getting the information from Facebook because so many people are sharing so many things from a range of websites and resources, it's really great.

Psychology is a topic that greatly interests me, subsequently, so do personality types. A discussion like this is something I really enjoy, something that motivated me to start a thread like this. If you feel lost don't worry, you got plenty of time to discover and understand, there's a great journey out there waiting for you. Have a good evening 🙂

With Love,

Grace xx

[Just Sara]

Hey again Grace;

Looking back at my post, I realised an error; I used to be an ENTJ, but have transitioned to an INTJ, not the other way round. Sorry...my bad!

Nature vs Nurture...yes, I've had this discussion and agree there's validity on both sides. There are innate gifts and those discovered as life progresses. In my own case, I wouldn't say it was one or the other, only that some gifts I was born with, couldn't really be expressed openly growing up due to bad parenting and abuse.

For instance, my intelligence has always been there, but self esteem issues and a lack of self awareness/motivation thwarted my development growing up.

Then there's my survival instincts; I was born at 3 and 1/2 months preemi expected to die. This aspect of my personality has always made it possible for me to get thru difficulties; I've nearly died a few times. I now except my survival ability as an innate gift.

Protective instincts (towards others) though were learned from childhood experiences and then drawn to jobs with society's vulnerable. Protecting myself is another story; that's where my survival instincts came into play.

This is fascinating I absolutely agree. I thrive these days on learning; hindsight can be frustrating though. Am I a better person than I could've been? Hmm...that's the million dollar question yeah?

Kudos for a great thread!

Sara

[startingnew]

HI Grace
shoutout to Sara,
Paul, Gruffudd and Taurus,

I think I might look
into these personalities abit more too and see if any of it matches
my own personality, which obviously it would somewhere otherwise it
wouldnt show these results now would it lol.
I studied abit of
society and culture through year 12 and it was a pretty good topic
but no personalities aspects came around.
Would you be able to
link me some of the website that youve found useful on here so I can
take a look?

[Graceeeeee]

Hey Sara,

Thanks very much for sharing 🙂 What you said makes sense. There's a part of you that was born that way but your experiences have also greatly shaped you. Same with me. Born an introvert, didn't get much time with family as a child so that further isolated me. I don't like being around people all the time which is an introvert trait, but then I am also very guarded due to bad experiences from childhood.

And yes, hindsight is annoying because you realise what you could've done but you can't go back and change it. But sometimes when I think about it I realise that some mistakes and regrets have shaped me greatly too. Some things I would've never done if I didn't have those regrets and mistakes. Sometimes they are overwhelming and not it's not every time that something good will come out of it all, but since we can't change them, I try to let them be. (Saying so though, it is really easy to keep thinking "what if I did that")

Great discussions, talk to you soon?

With Love,

Grace xx