Ok so I love brainstorming and thinking of tons of different scenarios in situations and I'd say I'm alright at noticing patterns but I also love movement and I enjoy doing physical things and I always notice details and nothing relaxes me as much as just dancing away to some music. Can't for the life of me decide between Se and Ne. I
You chose very generic things to define why you fit in both descriptions, which actually makes the job easier because it means that you will easily know which one you use once you get a grab of each one of both functions.
I’m a strong Se user and I like… don’t like moving a single finger all day, if I can spend my entire day watching tv and sleeping I will. I love to dance but I know many Se users that don’t. I also love daydreaming about possible future scenarios no matter how unrealistic they are! It’s just that I tend to want to know the why of everything and just need the answer to certain things (there goes my Ti-Ni).
The thing is, both Ne and Se users, being extraverted perceivers, are going to enjoy engaging with the world actively and in a present focused way. How and why they engage with the world is how they both differ. The main differences between Se and Ne is that Se is focused and excited by what is right there and Ne is focused and excited by what could be there.
That, though, is a very abstract concept to grasp if you don’t study all functions with enough precision, so let me simplify your process. This will be a lot easier for you to figure out if you take into account the two introverted perceiving functions. Instead of wondering if you use Se or Ne, ask yourself if you use Se vs Si, or Ne vs Ni. Are you a Se-Ni/Ni-Se user or a Ne-Si/Si-Ne user?
As I don’t know if you are questioning a strong or weak usage of Ne/Se I’m going to cover them all.
The similarities that differ them:
Both Se-Ni and Si-Ne users learn from experience. Se helps the user achieve a lot of their knowledge by learning from practical experience. I did this which caused that and therefore I’ve reached this conclusion. Si users also learn from experience and storage the information that could be useful in the future. Se does it objectively, Si does it subjectively.
Both Ni-Se and Ne-Si users entertain theorical ideas but Ni wants to find the ultimate ideas, it seeks for the truth, while Ne is always just seeing a wide variety of possibilities or outcomes from each situation.
These are xSxx vs xNxx which is why people love to talk about sensors vs intuitors, because ones work primarly with experiences and others with ideas, but that’s ridiculous because Si/Se and Ni/Ne are SO different.
The absolute differences:
I’ve found that it’s a lot easier to find your type when you consider the strongest and weakest points of your personality, so I’ve developed my answer in a way that might help you see the differences more easily.
Strong Se users - Se/Ni (xSxP):
The pros: they learn from hands-on practical experience so they can learn from their mistakes like Si users, but they will change the way they approach their problem solving depending on the results they want to achieve, so they are not fixated to certain methods, but to certain goals. That way they will be able to find shortcuts and hacks and it will make them less afraid to take risks if they believe something could come out of it. “A lazy person will find an easy way to do a hard job”. That could be strong Se.
The cons: god may have mercy on you if you lose sight of your future goals. I see the problem, but not the need for it to be fixed right now, I’ll do it later, there’s more than enough time. I’m just gonna enjoy the shit out of this moment. That due date? Won’t feel near until it’s 2 hours away. Impulsive! Not realizing at that moment what consecuences your actions could have and therefore fucking up real time.
How developed Ni can help: it will make it easier for them to be goal focused and therefore get to the point earlier. It will help them focus and not get distracted, get the job done when they need it and make their practical approach to things efficent.
How unhealthy Ni can be unhelpful: in a Ni grip/Ni related loop, you become obsessed with the future in a very negative way. You just need to know the ultimate answers and you most likely will have a negative approach to life aka everything is meaningless, why am I here! Undeveloped Ni makes you unable to focus on your goal and leads you to be more impulsive than usual. Basically, your life is full of regrets by the end of the day.
Strong Si users - Si/Ne (xSxJ)
The pros: they storage past experience so, when faced with an issue, they come up with the most effective or plausible way to achieve their goal. They don’t simply learn from practical experience like Se users do, it’s different, they take that experience, they internalize it and use that information to judge an issue. “This might be the most logical way to do it, but considering what happened that one time we did it, it might not be the safest one, while this other one isn’t as fast but it has never failed me before”.
The cons: may be unable to get out of their comfort zone or approach easier solutions simply because they know what will work and therefore don’t feel the need to try new things. May let a past experience define them in a way that it will affect their life majorly. May become nostalgic and wish they could go back in time.
How developed Ne can help: it will help them predict things because they’ll be able to see different outcomes of a situation and through their storaged experience they will weigh which is the thing most likely to happen or which is the most efficent way to approach that issue out of all the possible options.
How unhealthy Ne can be unhelpful: If they are in a Ne grip/Ne related loop, they could either let loose and have irrational dreams and goals that are impossible to achieve, or it might make them see a bunch of negative outcome their future could have. If their Ne is undeveloped, they’ll be even more hesitant to get out of their comfort zone and question things.
Strong Ni users - Ni/Se (xNxJ)
The pros: easily contemplate issues that will be present in the future, and therefore they towards fixing them in the present. Better safe than sorry. Also makes them goal oriented so it will be easier for them to fix the issue or achieve the answer they were looking for. Helps them stay focused. (Don’t @ me but Harry Styles does an amazing use of Ni because he uses it to weigh the pros and cons of his profession and see what really matters at the end of the day so he won’t get lost in the madness of it all).
The cons: Can be so future oriented that they forget about present issues or to enjoy the moment to begin with! They are more prone to be anxious or stressed because they are very fixated in that one issue they just need to figure out.
How developed Se can help: unlike Si, which is subjective, it storages practical experience in an objective way and therefore it helps them use that practical hands-on experience in their problem solving method. It also helps them let loose and live more in the moment.
How unhealthy Se can be unhelpful: if they are in a Se grip/Se related loop, they’ll have no goal to guide them through their lives and feel like they lack purpose and rely on physical present experiences to fill that emptiness, if their Se is undeveloped, well, they’ll be even more anxious than usual.
Strong Ne users - Ne/Si (xNxP):
The pros: contemplate either 1) many approaches you could take to solve present issues or 2) a bunch of future possible scenarios that could happen as an outcome of your present actions. Comes up with many solutions or predictions. This might help them be creative or inventive in many ways, or discover new ways to approach issues by pure casuality.
The cons: Deciding which ones are the right ones! If the possibilities are endless then how can I decide which is the correct one? Can there really be an ultimate truth if there are so many different approaches you could take regarding this topic? Also sticking to one hobby or goal. They want to try too many things and get bored easily. Might make them be unrealistic because they see things that aren’t there.
How developed Si can help: they take the knowledge they’ve gained from a past experience to cut down the number of possible approaches. This is so not gonna work because remember that one time when things blew up in my face after I tried it? One possibility less.
How unhealthy Si can be unhelpful: they can let a past experience define them if they are in a Si grip/Si related loop or if their Si is undeveloped they lack a tool that helps them stay focused rather than dwelling in all the possibilities.
While writing this I’ve realized something about strong Ne vs strong Se:
Se: I really want to do that thing, and I will do it eventually, I really will, I just have this other thing I want to do right now, I’ll get to that other thing in ten minutes. I promise I will. Oh, fuck! When did it get this late? [Repeat daily: you’ll never get to do that one thing unless you develop your Ni to help you stay goal/future oriented]. You have goals and it’s not that you get bored of them, you just lack the motivation to fulfill them.
Ne: I really want to do that thing, but that too, and that too! Oh no, THAT one, okay, let’s start this one. I’m bored already because THAT thing sounds much better. I’m gonna start 80 projects and not finish any of them or just not start any at all while trying to pick one. [Repeat daily: you’ll never get to pick one until you let your Si help you stay focused on what could truly be useful out of all of those possibilities]. You have many goals, can’t pick between any of them, and once you pick one, you grow bored of it and want to jump to the next one.
Now pick what you feel the most related to or the situations you’ve experienced the most.
There you have it. I hope this helped? I know this was beyond your question but I thought it was counterproductive to cover Ne vs Se with abstract concepts that give absolutely no practical examples that could actually help you tell apart which ones is the one you use. After all, I’m a strong Se user, I learn more from the examples than from the explanations!