I definitely feel like I go into a different mode when there is a crisis. Emotions are gone and I see pretty clearly what needs to be done. I had a big day like that last year when I had to take charge, kick ass, and take names. It was a week before my mom died and the hospital wasn't helping us at all on some important things going on. I don't get a chance to exercise this skill a lot and I was so thankful to have it. My super INFP aunt does the deer in the headlights thing whenever there is a problem. I find it very irritating.
Maybe this means I am supposed to be more of an extravert but the weight of the world has crushed me like a grape!
Eh...you could be a natural extravert. I'm not sure if what you're describing is the same thing as "springing into action" without thought though. It sounds you handled those situations perfectly, and you were very controlled and deliberate. The stress response thing I quoted was talking specifically about reactions that
aren't necessarily voluntary, and whether they tend to be uncontrolled action or paralysis.
I'd say I have a more difficult time refraining from acting impulsively than freezing up. It's actually been a great benefit to me. One time, when I was about twenty years old, this dude tried to snatch my purse, but he was half drunk and I immediately just started yelling at him and beating him with said purse, so he wasn't able to take it.
Yeah, I mean, I think sometimes being reactive or impulsive could be detrimental, and I'm more likely to be that way when it concerns glorious me, rather than a task that involves serving others.
My brash impulsiveness I would say can be one of my biggest flaws...but I didn't get my purse stolen, dammit.
I just think, though, if that happened in some place like NYC I might have gotten shot by the mugger though. This was just some drunk douche at a party I was at in NC.
This sounds more like the impulsive action the page I quoted was talking about. Especially if you think you would have done the same if you'd been in serious danger. And the bolded...I have a very hard time picturing an introvert saying that. Everyone likely says or does the occasional impulsive thing, but if it happens all the time and it's a major flaw of yours, and if stress makes you
more likely to act that way rather than less....yeah, I think that's a strong sign of extraversion.
That's actually one of the things I find most puzzling about extraverts. When I started reading about tertiary temptation and "loops", the idea of extraverted loops just blew my mind. The thought of someone always being compelled to act, and having to stop themselves and make themselves reflect more....I can hardly wrap my head around that. I try to imagine it, and it seems so completely bass-ackwards and bizarre to me.
@ the OP: Are there any reasons besides shyness that made you decide you were introverted? If feeling shy was the main thing that made you think 'I' for yourself, you're right to reconsider that now. I don't know you well enough to have an opinion on your type though.
