It’s interesting that a lot of the “You Know You’re an INFJ When” posts are weirdly specific or don’t apply as well as they profess.
It seems like a lot of INFJ bloggers come from a place of, “INFJs are super rare, and I am an INFJ, therefore all INFJs are exactly like me, including all of my romantic tastes, pet peeves, and personal insecurities,” or what-have-you.
In actuality, there is such a thing as a person with a base personality type who is well-balanced, or who has grown past the classic pitfalls that come with their specific type.
Personally, as someone who has beaten depression, I can’t really afford a lot of negative self-talk, neither do I subscribe to the notion that such behavior is natural. I completely acknowledge the fact that INFJs in particular are very susceptible to the kind of self-criticism that is seemingly inextricably tied to perfectionism, but these posts about extreme guilt or sleepless nights spent beating oneself up over self-perceived failures in various areas of one’s life only end up leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth.
On the flip side, it can sometimes be hard to read the #INFJproblems tag, because I know that a lot of these bloggers are writing their posts from a place of sadness, regret, or feelings of being trapped or powerless to change these so-called faults. It’s hard to read, because I know that none of these people are truly stuck with their personality problems. As someone who now stands on the other side of her problems with self-criticism, moral bull-headedness, and shameless favoritism for pathos, I would love to tell each of these people that you can be better, you can be happier, if you just leave yourself the room you need to grow.
