GAEL
New member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2015
- Messages
- 23
- MBTI Type
- enfp
- Enneagram
- 7w8
- Instinctual Variant
- sx/sp
Thanks to this interesting forum and the thoughtful people who inhabit it, I've been thinking about some of my problems. At least, I considered them to be my own particular constellation of problems, before I began reading about the ENFP personality type, and its bewildering variety of strengths and foibles. I am a writer by inclination and profession, an art curator, and an independent scholar. That is, I am simultaneously engaged in organizing, synthesizing, interpreting and representing information, and struggling like Hell not to shop on Ebay, study the migration patterns of the American Warbler, change my toenail polish, phone four friends, wipe the dust of the bedboard, finish my novel about a house with an expanding closet, brush the dog's teeth, and take a short nap. It's terribly hard, and frequently depressing, this divided nature. Thanks to ya'll, I know I'm not alone. The world does not look kindly upon this kind of mind, as we all know.(F... their tiny, dehydrated and soul-destroying sequential task fascisms).
Here's an idea. The driving and determining forces that compel ENFPs to an awareness of layers of significance and multiple relationships between things and ideas, and which consequently enable us to be creative, original, and "inspiring" are the very same forces that drive us to levels of distraction that other types can't imagine. Which is why even well intentioned criticism is so horribly galling and alienating. The solution to this attentional issue must come from the ENFP mind itself. When faced with a task, whether trivial or complex and important, the ENFP mind finds itself in its characteristic position of contemplating multitudes of alternative ideas, notions, impulses, and desires. No wonder it's hard to iron a shirt. No wonder it's even harder to write a chapter of a book, or continue an analysis of the politics of 19th century Jaipur. I am finding that as my awareness of my own mental landscape increases, so does my ability to think to myself: " okay, I can't do it all, or even a fraction of what is trying to force itself on my attention, so I will just do one little thing. Just one little thing." So I sit down and start doing one little thing. Often that leads to another. On a good day, several hours of work will be accomplished, as long as I keep this tight therapeutic rein on myself. Like hobbling carefully down the hall after bunion surgery, instead of embarking on a competitive 10k run. The first thing leads to the second, but there are no shortcuts. Kinda like that.
Full Disclosure: I am old enough to be utterly baffled by willful illiteracy, pre-packaged miniature cartoon faces inserted into texts in an attempt to increase the expressive power of words which are not up to the task all by themselves, etc. Please don't bother to respond to this outburst. My three twenty-something kids have said it all.
A skill-testing question: the person in my avatar picture would have driven the Romans out of Britain, but her warriors were no match for their bureaucratically organized viciousness. Thus, it is demonstrated that the history of northern Europe was shaped by the flawed and heroic personality of an EFNP. Who was she?
Here's an idea. The driving and determining forces that compel ENFPs to an awareness of layers of significance and multiple relationships between things and ideas, and which consequently enable us to be creative, original, and "inspiring" are the very same forces that drive us to levels of distraction that other types can't imagine. Which is why even well intentioned criticism is so horribly galling and alienating. The solution to this attentional issue must come from the ENFP mind itself. When faced with a task, whether trivial or complex and important, the ENFP mind finds itself in its characteristic position of contemplating multitudes of alternative ideas, notions, impulses, and desires. No wonder it's hard to iron a shirt. No wonder it's even harder to write a chapter of a book, or continue an analysis of the politics of 19th century Jaipur. I am finding that as my awareness of my own mental landscape increases, so does my ability to think to myself: " okay, I can't do it all, or even a fraction of what is trying to force itself on my attention, so I will just do one little thing. Just one little thing." So I sit down and start doing one little thing. Often that leads to another. On a good day, several hours of work will be accomplished, as long as I keep this tight therapeutic rein on myself. Like hobbling carefully down the hall after bunion surgery, instead of embarking on a competitive 10k run. The first thing leads to the second, but there are no shortcuts. Kinda like that.
Full Disclosure: I am old enough to be utterly baffled by willful illiteracy, pre-packaged miniature cartoon faces inserted into texts in an attempt to increase the expressive power of words which are not up to the task all by themselves, etc. Please don't bother to respond to this outburst. My three twenty-something kids have said it all.
A skill-testing question: the person in my avatar picture would have driven the Romans out of Britain, but her warriors were no match for their bureaucratically organized viciousness. Thus, it is demonstrated that the history of northern Europe was shaped by the flawed and heroic personality of an EFNP. Who was she?