Does knowing that you “fit in” a personality type actually makes you feel better?

Somnium said:
Does your life seem different to you? Now?
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Life is different all the time. Everything shifts, whether you'd like it to or not, as you grow.


MoonFlier said:
Understanding the mbti types and how they apply to people helped me not only to understand myself a but better, but to understand others from the past and present too.

It's not perfect, but close enough.
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This is important to me. Of course, MBTI is not perfect, but it categorizes people and explains why they think and act as they do and enables people to accept each other and understand each other. It is especially useful for personality types that don't mesh as easily, for overcoming misunderstandings, or for explaining people's reactions.

I learned my type in my late teens when I took the official test. I rejected it because I thought I should be an ISFJ, the artist. I took the test a few more times because of a friend who was really into MBTI, always got INFJ. I rejected MBTI. About 10-12 years ago I took the test again, got INFJ again, and sat down to read about what that meant. In that literature I found a lot of information about life-long behaviors, many of which made me cringe, many of which my (extremely extroverted and social, Fe-driven) mother disliked about me, but also all of those good traits. For the first time I felt like I wasn't broken or messed up because my behaviors, the way my brain functions, etc, were "different". I understood that there were people all over the world like me and these traits were natural and acceptable. I also accepted who I was and stopped fighting parts of myself that were indicative of the INFJ personality. It helped me map out my life better because I understood I was hardwired for some things and not others. Even though humans can learn to do things, we're better at doing what we're "made for".

I still force some aspects of my personality that I’ve trained myself to have to fit in with my social group before I understood that how I am naturally is acceptable. In time I’ll learn to let those go.

A good example of wiring: We are either detail-oriented or big picture thinkers. We all do both, but we are "hard wired" for one over the other. I've been in work environments where this showed. I've left jobs where being extremely detail-oriented was a necessity and being a big-picture thinker didn't factor in. I know I am a big-picture thinker.

INFJs are also not team players. We can fake it, but that is not where we excel. I always thought there was something wrong with me before I learned that. I shut down in groups. I can force it, sure, but it is forced.
 
Wyote said:
You think you know yourself but you don't. So you might think you love yourself, but you don't.
The pursuit of knowing yourself leads to an expansion of more truthful self love.
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Love is ephemeral, just like we are... I've always thought that loving myself was ultimate, just so that I end up thinking that acceptance may be better. This way, it won't be much about loving, but recognizing your faults and imperfections so that you'll know how to live better with them.
 
Asa said:
A good example of wiring: We are either detail-oriented or big picture thinkers. We all do both, but we are "hard wired" for one over the other. I've been in work environments where this showed. I've left jobs where being extremely detail-oriented was a necessity and being a big-picture thinker didn't factor in. I know I am a big-picture thinker.

INFJs are also not team players. We can fake it, but that is not where we excel. I always thought there was something wrong with me before I learned that. I shut down in groups. I can force it, sure, but it is forced.
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I get that.
Before understanding that having a less known personality, I used to blame myself a lot for not trying hard to be like others, the ones close to me would always make me feel special somehow as well. Not in a natural way, but in an unusual elevated state, I wasn't comfortable knowing that they only thought I was that way because they viewed myself as "superior". Always comparing me to other kids around...
It led me to a completely messed up existential crisis which almost caused my fade from this present world.
Striving against who you are and who you think you should be is dangerous. Due to this, the MBTI test made me see how much of my existence I had wasted only thinking about not being good enough to live.
It's weird to think that we're always trying to fit in but once we stop denying we're not good as we are, it's not our own selves that change, it's our mind. Perspective is such a thing, gosh.
Finding out your MBTI made your job more bearable for you? I mean, you wish to change jobs, but I think that the pressuring enviroment plus the unknown idea of who you are made things kinda worse...
 
Wyote said:
Some kinds are, some kinds aren't
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We're in constant change. Each day can potentially bring life changing experiences.
Aren't these the reason why our lives are categorized on periods? Childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age...
People come and go. Now you "love" some who you may not feel the same later on. Isn't loving about knowing what makes something true even under all changes that life has brought to it?
 
Somnium said:
Isn't loving about knowing what makes something true even under all changes that life has brought to it?
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Sure. I don't see how that necessitates ephemerality. If anything it goes the opposite direction.
 
Sure does. It does clear up the confusion and alienation I felt before identifying what kind of personality I have and knowing I’m not alone. It’s definitely nice to have a behavioral blueprint, and know you are actually a part of a group of individuals with the same type and feel as if I’m not some sort of alien weirdo, so it is humbling to be among other alien weirdos like me! Yay for alien weirdos!

Another thing I observed is that I find it a beautiful thing to see those who share the same personality types have unique traits that yet make us so alike yet different. To be expected really due to different upbringings and environment, etc. Which can make the whole experience of knowing others among same types to be interesting and fun.
 
Yes. I felt less weird in this world and suddenly everything made more sense to me.
 
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Somnium said:
I’ve been thinking about how science can actually explain a certain predictable form of being. In fact, look at you now, taking part on a social media which allows people to access much more than you could ever imagine yourself telling someone you know in person.
An index, a catalog, an acronym, reveling (as per say) who you… are?

Can you remember when you’ve taken any remarkable personality test? How you’ve felt about the result, or how you’ve taken it into consideration. Knowing yourself is seen as an advantage, even more when you manage to love yourself the way you are, what would you say about it?
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There is something to learning about yourself through a test. It can help you understand yourself and eventually even accept yourself.

It's not exactly a direct path, but it helped me towards learning to love myself. The knowledge is a part of it, but not in terms of how I fit in. It's merely the parts of it that make me me that are important. Sometimes in the grand scheme of things, other times in the ways that I'm different, which are also a part of me.

I became better when I got so far into the system that I broke and conquered it, instead of being overcome by it. Incorporating it into my being, this way of seeing without looking, this is who I am and where I operate best.

It's undetermined whether I'm "better", ultimately. But I am content and I have begun to love myself.
 
knowing my "type" doesn't end the existential issues that I wrestle with. It doesn't make life less challenging. It doesn't define me, or explain me to others. it's just a classification. .Interesting for sure. .and helped me understand some things about relating to others and to myself. but at the end of the day I am still a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. . I must say that in retirement, that hole is less important
 
Peppermint said:
Nope,never did.

I went through 2-3 types, and despite doing a lot of research I never fully identified with any of those types, at least not with their stereotypical profiles.
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#PProbz
 
It's indeed comforting knowing there's more people out there willing to find others like you.
Still, I feel kinda disappointed for never getting to know another one whose typology is the same as mine, in person, I mean.
Has any of you gotten to know someone who you'd guess as the same type as you?
 
Rit4lin said:
I felt more excitement about my Harry Potter house quiz on Pottermore than I did about my MBTI. Priorities :m036:

For myself I don't really put much stock in the significance of MBTI, but I appreciate that it has brought me to a forum of like-minded, talented and equally bat-shit crazy people (hello lovely you whoever is reading this).
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Any progress on figuring out the type you're closest to?

I know you don't care, but I do, so please give in to my whims. :tonguewink:
 
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