Friday, February 22, 2019

As an INFJ how can I make the best decision?

For years I have struggled with decision making. So often I've found myself doing things that I don't want to do and wondering why I'm doing it. After many "wrong for me" decisions, I end up over stressed and totally exhausted. Dazed, I just sit there wondering what happened.

As an INFJ (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging) person, I live by my principles and values. They form the core of my being. One thing I value is having unity between people. I seem to get in trouble when I make decisions based only on trying to keep harmony between people. This is a great goal, but for an idealist who wants to improve the world, it doesn't work. Improving requires change. Living by principles often leaves me standing alone. Sometimes I am seen as "not a team player" and, sometimes, as being impractical. People tell me that I have to accept things as they are and just "live in the moment", but how can I settle merely for the status quo when I have the ability to foresee possibilities? I simply can't. It would mean giving up what energizes me. It would mean giving up my purpose in life. I truly desire to gently help each person become their best; to develop their talents and to have the greatest happiness possible. I believe in people's potential.

Monday, February 4, 2019

Balancing my life as an INFJ

My life as an INFJ (introverted Intuitive Ni; supported by extroverted Feeling Fe) has been a series of "Boom and Bust" cycles. Even as a kid, I would be exhausted by the end of a day at school and would recharge by immersing myself in a good fantasy book for most of the weekend.

Why all this stress? Why are INFJs the most stressed of all personality types? One of the main reasons is that we are so different from most people. Not only does this mean that others find it very difficult to understand INFJs, but also we do not easily fit in society since behavioral expectations are set by the most common personality types. This isn't us. Though there is still a lot of debate over whether extroverts out number introverts, most agree that extroverts range from 50% to 74% of the population. But regardless of the percentage, our society in the United States is dominantly extroverted (compare it to an Introvert culture such as Japan). Also, in our culture Sensors are about 75% of the population and Intutitivies are only 25% of our population.  Now consider that of the 25% who are Intutitivies, less than 6% (INFJs 1% and INFPs 4.4%) use their Intuition in an Introverted way supported by Feeling.