Sorry, I've had to skim read most posts (short attention span and all that
) but I thought I'd get my two pence in.
I've only recently discovered the whole MBTI thing and I can't even begin to tell you what a relief it is; throughout most of my teenage and young adult life (I'm 25), I thought I was a bit strange in the head. I probably had more jobs between the ages of 18-23 than most people will have in their lives! I've worked in retail, social services, business admin, transport admin, WAREHOUSES, IT Support.... I found happiness nowhere. In fact, I'm still working in IT and it's killing me, it really is the most soul destroying shite on the planet.
Initially I was chasing material gain, and that went well for a while - I've always secured a higher income with each job, at 22 got a very cushy, well paid job in IT that allowed me to purchase a pretty nice car, afford all the stuff I wanted, gave me high self efficacy because I was pretty much already in a managerial role, I'd been offered a trainee consultancy position down in Oxford... things were going great.
But it never felt right. There was always a niggle, deep down.
One morning I woke up and decided that I wasn't actually bothered about material gain and instead wanted to experience life to the full. Everything was suddenly about having as much fun as possible. That didn't work out though. Instead, I came to a complete halt and stagnated. Cue a few years of incredible depression because I lacked any sense of direction, got left behind in the rat race (my friends started catching up and getting higher paid jobs, they're all getting married now, got their own places, etc) and I'm still living with parents with a job I bleedin' hate and the most insatiable desire to sack everything off and travel the world... but I have no money for it because I'm so crap at saving!
MBTI has helped me out a lot, as have threads like this which constantly reinforce the fact that I'm not alone, nor weird in the head! Well ok, maybe a bit
Fast forward to present day and although very little has changed in my situation (still single, still living with parents, still working in a shit job) I am so very, very happy with my life. I now have a long term goal (I'm studying psychology part time) and I'm saving my ass off to go travel the world! I've realised that I'm actually incredibly happy being single and... yeah, life is amazing. I've got my spark back
Without trying to sound too dramatic (or indeed like I'm passing the blame!), growing up has been hard for me because I've come to realise that all my friends and family are introverts. Before MBTI came along, I treated myself like an introvert too! It's all so silly now but I had no idea that I was essentially damaging myself; I couldn't understand why I felt so crappy in spite of the fact that I was having lots of 'me' time and keeping myself to myself.
After realising I was an extrovert (and indeed coming to understand what that meant), I've rebuilt old bridges, made some new ones and strengthened the existing ones - I now have a fantastic social life and I am so, so happy.
Oh hell, look at me procrastinating again. Back to the coursework I go!