What was your first reaction to finding out you were an INFJ?

[Stillwater]

When I first took the test it was administered by an employment placement firm. After I took the test the person I was assigned to was sort of hush when he told me the results. He said something like, "You want something using soft skills".

His reaction was weird. But the results didn't mean too much to me at the time because I didn't know what INFJ meant really. However, I took it a couple more times at the career center in my area and got the same results. It was then that I learned more about the INFJ type.

I first read something about how INFJ's make decisions based on their feelings toward something. I was like, "Well, this bites. How am I going to make it in this world if I make decisions based on how I feel? How objective and how tough is that? Especially for a male?"

Well, that's how it went for me. What was your first reaction?

 

[lenina]

I took the test once in high school, and I think I got INFJ but didn't think much of it. Then in university I took the test again through my employer and when I got INFJ and read what they were like, I got up, went back to the table and picked up a personality I actually liked. It was an E-something, but not sure which one. My coworker told me that's not how it works. But I didn't listen to him at the time.

I have taken the test dozens of times since and have almost always gotten INFJ. I finally took the test and answered not according to what I thought but what I thought the ideal version of me should pick. I STILL got INFJ. Then I just accepted it.

 

[Haslo]

So...I have taken an online test and I got INFJ, and so I have Googled it, and I was pretty suprised that I realised that I'm not alone having that features of character. I haven't thinked that there's second person like me, thinking like me. And so, i was little schocked, because first site i have visited for checking my score told me everything about my nature. Everything has concured.

 

[apemon]

Relief.

 

[Dave Fallon]

Relief.

Yeah. To some degree that was mine as well. Oh, not at first; first was, as always, curiosity. But as I learned more about it and recognized myself in what I learned, I was relieved.

I think I aspire to be the type of person that does not like lables, and I admire that quality in others. But I perplex myself and get frustrated trying to figure out why I'm different and why I sometimes struggle to understand and be understood. So I concluded that I need this, despite agreeing that others don't, and sympathizing with those who don't want to be labled.

I'm the only one that can properly classify myself, and I think it is helpful, at least to me, to be able to explain my infuriating ways to my curious self...

 

[Suraj Z]

"lol"

 

[Skarekrow]

I took the test in college Psychology.
The teacher made it a point to single me out as being the minority type which only a bullheaded extrovert would do…lol.
Instances like that are plentiful in the life of an introvert I think…anyhow, it made sense to me, because I had always felt out of place. I never fit into this group or that, if I tried or not it didn’t matter…I was mostly alone as a kid.

 

[Tilheyra]

I took the test as part of a staff training in undergrad. My first thought was that it confirmed, and kind of explained, my weirdness. I found a sense of comfort that there are other people in the world that have some similar qualities, and it was a relief to finally find some sort of framework that provided insight into how I "tick".

Knowing my type has assisted in my development as an individual, a friend, and a leader. Knowing more about myself has improved my abilities in interacting with other people. I also have been able to develop even deeper friendships due to my greater understanding of my own emotional intelligence and intimacy. Additionally, I have read quite a bit of literature discussing how one can utilize the strengths of their type in a leadership setting. I combine this knowledge with other types of development theories to inform my decisions in my job and career.

 

[Switchgirl]

First took this test in 8th or 9th grade when my sister asked me to take it (She scored as an INFP). I got INFJ. I very much related to the description and didn't think too much about it.

I took it again in one of my business courses and scored INFJ. (The test cost basically 40 dollars but it was very binary and most likely inaccurate test). I felt like it was a godsend XD.

Now fast-forwarding to today, my real type is now unknown to me .

 

[Eventhorizon]

I ran through the woods...for days. Asking, no demanding to know why I had been forsaken. No wait, that was something else.

Strangely when I first took the mbti test it returned the infjs result and I related to it. I think now primarily because of the introvert description and that I had not read any of the other descriptions. Later obviously I retook the test and...retook it. The intj description fits better I think. Still I wonder why the first time I took the test it was infj.
The past couple of years have had various physical effects associated with them related to me.
So to describe what I felt like when I learned what it meant to be an introvert? Understood.

 

[bodhireagan]

pretty sure I commented "does this mean you will stop bugging me about taking so much alone time?" as my first reaction.
overall it was really a relief for me.
Seeing that there was nothing wrong with how I viewed the world, how I operated internally, and how I viewed social interactions (necessary and fulfilling, but ultimately tiring and repetitive).

 

[Scientia]

I tested as an INFP as a teenager and switched to INFJ as an adult after I was out of my parents' house. I had no reaction aside from curiosity and desire for more knowledge. It was interesting to read an accurate description of who I am.

It was, however, a relief to understand that whole idealistic/values part of the INFJ personality because it explained a great deal of things that were unclear before. I also understood why I am almost never attracted to people and why I am so picky about whom I trust.

 

[Isis]

I thought the whole thing was a joke. Famous INFJs: Jesus. Ha.

 

[just me]

Wish I had known when I was young

 

[wolkenkraetzer]

My first thought was that it confirmed, and kind of explained, my weirdness.

This about sums it up for me, since I am different things to different people.

 

[Delta]

Relieved but also a bit sad as at that time I was hoping I would grow out of many of the qualities.

 

[LucyJr]

I was feeling very different and weird, and I thought that was a objective truth with regard to me.
But then I read MBTI and it explained alot of things better. From that stage, my perception of me being different was at least justified based on the logical premises I knew then from MBTI material(which were false, of course).
Now when I look behind I laugh about the whole thing, especialy about me feeling so different and missunderstood and being so deeply wounded and having anxiety from it. I look behind and I say "But how can that now I consider weird that I considered myself in the past weird and being deeply troubled by it. How is that that the whole thing seems laughable now?"

And the answer is that because of a subjective experience (feeling different), I judged things wrongly, based on false premises which I thought were true, therefore I've got a false answer or dillema...

It was the same thing with introversion. I remember with how much fear I would read the slighty negative descriptions about introverts, about their lack of social skills and all that bla bla. And I was deeply disturbed by the whole introversion problem, to the point of obsession, constantly overthinking at it.
Now, I find it hilarious. Not only because it was not true, but also because of how dumb I was. I was so dumb that I coulnd't tap myself on the back and encourage me, and reject that constant anxiety that was on the back of my mind, hunting my nights.
For example, if I read now now something really bad about me or something like that, the first reaction is to "cast out" fear out of me (if that thing brings me any kind of fear), then deal with the actual problem, maybe even laugh at it while studying it. Its because now I easily find hope to gather courage in many other things. Its like my country (soul) its much more bigger and armed.

So yeah, the MBTI intrument helped me in alot of things. Altought I now think that its mostly superficial and simply wrong on many aspects, I consider it a cause that lead my journey to another points in my life.

 

[Green Seas]

I found an online MBTI test by accident. Barely understood all the letters and just clicked start test. After my results came up, I remember thinking 'Oh, that's cool'. It was kind of comforting when a test says you're wierd but in a similar way to other people. I looked at loads of different tests and got INFJ in almost all of them. Eventually, I learned not to take it too seriously but for some reason I still feel glad I came up as an infj.

 

[Artisan]

What was your first reaction to finding out you were an INFJ?

*Takes tests gets INFJ result*
Um...Ok... this sounds exactly like me...

 

[dudemanbro]

"So it isn't just me! I knew it..."