INTJ Quirk #2
The Nose Dive
This is a typical move for the INTJ who’s under a lot of stress, emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, whatever the case may be. There’s several steps to reaching the point where their life takes a Nose Dive, but it’s super important to remember that for those who feel they’re on this path, eventual collapse is not necessarily your only option, even if its one that is typical.
How does the Nose Dive come about? Firstly, we have to look at Ni, the INTJ’s strongest and most well developed function. This is the function that predetermines the INTJ’s future, by being able to curate information and predict what comes next. This is great for setting goals, but not so great when it comes to times of stress. The INTJ is likely to take an “ends justify the means” approach to life.
This means that when the going gets tough, the INTJ avoids thinking about or confronting the difficulties that make the going tough. Add in the fact that even Te is not a particularly detail dependent function, a lot of small injustices will pile up. If we go back to the perfectionistic Ni that may not want to seek help or admit that something’s wrong, and tiny issues become really big. “I can handle this workload, I just need to get through the week.” “Yes, of course, I’ll take on the presentation.” “I’ve seen him texting someone and it’s suspicious, but I’m so busy I’ll talk to him about it later.”
And like a fault that receives lots of pressure, there’s a slip and suddenly San Diego reads a 6.7 on the Richter scale with an epicenter 100 miles away. When the top functions have “failed” to work properly, the least developed function, Se, thinks it’s a wonderful time to take over. This means lots of physical extremes: overeating, undereating, lots of sex, drinking, drugs, overexercising, never getting up from the couch, and so on. The healthy mechanisms appeared to have failed the INTJ, and so unhealthy ones take their place.
What then? Typically, much like after an earthquake, things are uncertain for a while. Sometimes, the underlying issues such as stress from a job, or a difficult partner, can be fixed and improved upon, and the chance of another Nose Dive aren’t too big. However, if those aren’t mended, or if the INTJ responds to things out of their control such as death in the family, then the next best thing is to prepare ahead of time, and wait out the next earthquake.