[Jungian Cognitive Functions] Tertiary popping up

[tibby]

I would like to ask about your tertiary functions (according to a theory it really starts to show signs of itself ~ 20 yo's?) and how it affected you, or if not at all?

Did you notice your 3rd function suddenly emerging? Or did you not even notice? Especially if you're reached your 30's, 40's ->, how would you describe the growth of your cognitive functions? Would you say you can use all your functions in a balanced manner? More effectively?

The reason why I'm asking is that I've clearly noticed my 3rd function (Ti) getting stronger in the past couple of years but lately (this year and the last few months especially) it has become very overwhelming.

 

[CuriousFeeling]

My tertiary function of Te/Ti has strengthened in the past years, which has helped me tons with understanding my emotions and how to manage them. Sometimes I don't know whether to follow my heart or mind in different issues in life. I end up trusting my brains more than my heart, which seems contradictory to NFness.

 

[Polaris]

My Ti started to develop early--I was about 15 when it first showed up. It began as a move toward intellectual independence, a desire to think for myself and question things. Prior to that, I had been almost oblivious to logic, albeit smart, and in spite of my acts of emotional rebellion, I had been up until then, very much a creature of my cultural background. When this new act of rebellion (as I would describe it) took root, I became less passionate, more detached, and twice as introverted. This made me feel pleasantly independent, and it coincided with a great bound toward maturity, but at the same time, it didn't sit so well with other people. I went from being well-liked if not popular to being something of a pariah, and I can't help but think it had to do with the suppression of what was likely one of my winning traits, emotionality. At the present, this growth of Ti continues: I'm caught in a severe tertiary loop that I can scarcely break even when I'm presented with the opportunity.

 

[garbage]

For the most part, I pretty much ignored my auxiliary Fi growing up. "Skipped a step," so to speak. Since I worked in engineering and with computers all my life, a lifestyle perpetuated by several misconceptions that I had about myself, I developed enough Te to make me seem dominant in that area.. and pretty early on, too. I've been a lot more stable and content since that's taken its rightful place on the back burner, though.

Granted, Fi was still there in a sense--I had my sentiments and was always the family mediator, among other things--but I didn't think anything of it.

It was only when I decided to go out there and experience life that I finally discovered that Te wasn't everything, and that allowing that mindset to dominate me was completely unnatural to who I am. I'd say that it took me about a year or so to "catch up" on Fi matters.

(There have been other threads about feeling men and thinking women who have experienced something similar to this.. I've been trying to find them, and I'll post back here if I do.)

 

[Skyward]

My best friend for years was an INTP, so I naturally picked things up from him over the years, although now since Ti is being pushed to backburner (while I'm in Finland and no-where near him) it seems to come out into the 'question anything and everything your Ni tells you' function sometimes, which is really frustrating.-- Although the same effect could be from Se, since it's opposite from Ni.