Jaded Idealist
New member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2009
- Messages
- 34
- MBTI Type
- INFJ
From the other INFJs here, I would like to see this discussed: might there be such a thing as a "typical" INFJ childhood? I often find that there is a great deal of difference between myself and other INFJs on these forums even though we supposedly are of the same type. Perhaps it's because when I was growing up I experienced a lot of deprivation of my Extroverted Feeling function (from poor articulation and social naivete) whereas others may not have. I was especially interested to stumble upon the supposed fact that INFJs are good articulators as well as writers, while INFPs are poor articulators, which doesn't seem true for me. The gap between my writing and my speech seems tremendous. In even day-to-day conversation, I constantly feel like my Introverted Intuition has written a check that my verbal communication is simply unable to cash, having to "dumb down" and tame what I am saying verbally to others, sometimes to the point where what I say about something really differs in kind from what I actually think and know about something. Small talk comes easily for most, but with great difficulty for myself.
Edit: In other words, the sort of childhood environment that involves a poorly developed, unsupported Extroverted Feeling may belong to someone like myself that is forced to "retreat" somewhat into Fi. Fe remains a function, but I am not the least bit unacquainted with the introverted aspect of F, either (and I'm definitely no INFP...I am a neat freak perfectionist and at times a self-righteous kind of person, overwhelmingly because I've always felt a desire for everything in life to have a point, a definable purpose). I guess you could call such a person a "jittery" INFJ, as contrasted with a "comfy" one. Although, in theory, a childhood that involved an adequately supported Fe is more likely to belong to an ENFJ adult than an introvert, am I right?
We are such bundles of paradoxes, aren't we?
Edit: In other words, the sort of childhood environment that involves a poorly developed, unsupported Extroverted Feeling may belong to someone like myself that is forced to "retreat" somewhat into Fi. Fe remains a function, but I am not the least bit unacquainted with the introverted aspect of F, either (and I'm definitely no INFP...I am a neat freak perfectionist and at times a self-righteous kind of person, overwhelmingly because I've always felt a desire for everything in life to have a point, a definable purpose). I guess you could call such a person a "jittery" INFJ, as contrasted with a "comfy" one. Although, in theory, a childhood that involved an adequately supported Fe is more likely to belong to an ENFJ adult than an introvert, am I right?
We are such bundles of paradoxes, aren't we?