“If an INFJ Loves You, They Will Never Give Up on You”

Truer words have never been spoken (or, in this case,  written).

Today, instead of doing homework, I somehow ended up taking a personality test and then finding this fantastic Prezi about INFJs:

Care and Feeding of INFJs

Even though history is my first passion and being a nerdy English major is my second passion, I have always found personality tests fascinating. Perhaps because I am in introvert who is always felt a little misunderstood in this world, probing into the way other people function just makes sense to me (that sounds like such an INFJ thing to say).

I’ve taken the Myers-Briggs test a few times before and I have tested as both an INFJ and an ISFJ. I  identify strongly with introversion (I), feeling (F), and judgement (J), but intuition (N) is my weakest point, which explains the shift between S (sensing) and N. However, I believe I am more of an INFJ than anything, and the above Prezi  made that abundantly clear for me. Furthermore, I believe I have come to understand just how intuitive I am within the last year or two. A year ago, I probably would have identified more with sensing, but today I definitely see myself as more of an intuitive individual. While I didn’t identify strongly with everything in the presentation, I did identify with everything to a certain extent.

The title of this post, which is a direct quote from the Prezi, really resonated with me because this is particularly true for me. I always, always, always cheer on the people I care about most in the world, even if I don’t necessarily let them know that. Even if they piss me off royally, I’ll eventually forgive them and I wont stop believing in them. When I care about someone, I really care about them and it takes a lot to destroy that.

I do believe that there are two sides to people. I know that there is a side of me that I definitely don’t let most people see.  The people who seem the happiest on the outside often are struggling the most on the inside. I know  a few people like this and I can read the one or two people like this that I know well like a book. Even the people who don’t come off as extremely happy on the outside have another side to them, though it may not be readily apparent to me, the INFJ. I excel at reading people. For instance, yesterday at dinner, I was talking with some of my friends in the dining hall on campus; as our conversation turned to a new topic, I could immediately tell that one of my friends was uncomfortable with the switch in conversation. It didn’t entirely surprise me given what I know about him, and once I gauged just how uncomfortable he was, I wanted more than anything to change the subject. He took his discomfort as his opportunity to leave (we were done eating and had been sitting there for a while just chatting).

Lately, I’ve been particularly aware of my intuitiveness, but I guard those insights with extreme care; I fear that people will think I’m crazy if I try to explain something to them that has no factual basis to it. Many times, I find that I come to intuitive realizations through small observations that eventually add up to something bigger.  However, it’s difficult to explain that to most people.  Just because it makes sense to me, doesn’t mean it will make sense to everyone else.

INFJ’s are hard to come by–we make up on about 1.5% of the population. We can come off as extroverts because we have this almost constant desire to be around people, but in reality we need a hell of a lot more alone time to remain mentally healthy than we may even realize. Identifying as an INFJ makes so much sense to me now–I have always felt this extreme need to be with people, almost to the point where I have, in the past, shut out the part of me that screams for alone time. It is only recently that I’ve come to embrace my introversion and how useful and necessary alone time is. This is one of the reasons I’ve come to love blogging so much–it allows me to have that much needed introverted time, while still allowing me to communicate with others.

Are you yourself an INFJ? Do you know anyone who you think might be an INFJ?

What does your Myers-Briggs type say about you?