In my thought being an intp or infp, I would like to know if it is common for an INFP having identity issues, and if it could be due to turbolent feelings that can make difficult a path for self-discovery. A sort of: "I can act only if I know really who I am".
I always change my mind about who I am and who I want become. One day I think I like a career and another day I would like another career who is the opposite. And so on... So I am constantly self-absorbed, self-doubt and mild depressed.
Any INFP can relate to this in some way, or I am on the wrong side?
Thank you.
Introverted feeling is making judgements about who you should be, while extroverted intuition is seeing endless possibilities. This makes the search for identity a constant, on-going process. (See my sig.) To add to this, INFPs see the "persona" that everyone wears. This makes us question our own identity and the persona that we wear more than most types. For example:
-At times, I have been a writer.
-At time, I have worn the persona of a writer, but I was not a writer in any sense.
-At times, I have been a writer and have worn the persona of a writer at the same time.
I think it is a good thing that INFPs have many interests and aspire to many different goals; however, a bird in hand beats two in the bush. We have to find some way to deploy more rapidly. People in this day and age have at least several careers over the course of their lives, so I think the trick is to get started and just do it and if something doesn't work out do something else. The tough part is when you get "settled" into a job that pays good money: changing at this point is tough if you don't have a support system or a good savings account to carry you through to your next success.
I don't feel that I can follow through on any coherent vision of who I want to become, and don't trust the evidence of a stable career and family life that I have arrived at an authentic expression of my self.
For me, this search for an authentic self is key. I think we have to be wary of missing the trees for the forest here though. You can have "the good life" in many, many different ways. Two people living the same kind of suburbia lifestyle could be completely authentically different from one another...