[INTP] I hate being INTP

[Drezoryx]

There is nothing about being an 'INTP' that makes you prone to being a loser or unhappy. As a matter of fact, there is nothing about any particular type that entails such an outcome in life. How you can enjoy life and keep yourself happy is a difficult puzzle for everyone that does not have any easy answers.

From what ive read of solitary walkers profiles thinking is a negative function and thats what the intp is endowed with. perhaps not a very good function to gel with the external environment.

 

[think2much]

Best thing you can do seriously is just avoid the people that say we are creepy or weird

True story, I've been hanging around people on my level so long that when I met some new people a friend of mine told me that they thought I was weird, I was shocked at first but then I remembered that most people do think that about me and I'd just been sheltering myself

They aren't worth it anyway mate, those mainstream people have rocks in their head

You should ask them some time why they think you are a creep, the reasons are seriously retarded, tell them to go suck a fat one

I do try to avoid those kind of people. It's also other things that's bothering me. Maby it's just me but I'm having really hard time adjusting to the "real world". Nothing seem to be going well for me right now. I drop out of school cause I didn't want to work at a company. No point of getting a major and spending all that money for no reason. I work part-time right now as customer service and I hate it! guess it doesn't really matter since I'm about to get fired. being late all the time, not really caring about the job.


all I know is that "being myself" isn't gonna get me anywhere in life. Even though my problem isn't related to my personality, it feels nice knowing that someone is reading this rather than being ignored.

 

[Ardent15]

Don't judge yourself for something that is out of your control.

Embrace your INTP-ness!

 

[Tamske]

INTPs are losers. Because, you know, success is defined by popularity, a great social life, caring and being there for lots of people who need you...

Yeah right. If you take the ESFJ definition of success, INTPs are losers by definition. The catch is: this isn't true, even if popular culture says otherwise. Success or failure is different from one person to another.
When would you consider yourself successful? If you are happily married? If you discovered something in science? If you have got a big house, a powerful car,...?

 

[think2much]

When would you consider yourself successful? If you are happily married? If you discovered something in science? If you have got a big house, a powerful car,...?

If I can make good living doing what I love. That's success in my books. I don't have to be "liked". I never said that. It just feels like I'm the only INTP in real world and that can make me feel bit depressing sometimes. Not getting along isn't that easy for me.

 

[Tamske]

Okay, I see.

Not getting along isn't easy for anybody. I guess everybody feels like he's the odd one out sometimes, and it is hard to find a balance between "wanting to be liked" and "wanting to do the things you like".

When I was in high school, it was evident girls had to care about clothes, appearance, boys,... I felt like nobody would like me if I didn't play a role. My parents even encouraged me to stay late at parties, which I didn't do because they weren't fun! But then I found a strategic board game club, a choir, ... in short, I found people that liked me the way I was. I'm sure you'll find them, too... as long as you accept other people the way they are. If INFJs and ESFJs can be good friends for ENTPs (I've got some examples) and vice versa, anything is possible!

Seriously. INTPs are cool. The main character in my current writing project is one, and he's a gem .

 

[spin-1/2-nuclei]

Maby it's just me but I'm having really hard time adjusting to the "real world". Nothing seem to be going well for me right now. I drop out of school cause I didn't want to work at a company. No point of getting a major and spending all that money for no reason. I work part-time right now as customer service and I hate it! guess it doesn't really matter since I'm about to get fired. being late all the time, not really caring about the job.


all I know is that "being myself" isn't gonna get me anywhere in life. Even though my problem isn't related to my personality, it feels nice knowing that someone is reading this rather than being ignored.

I think you should step back and take an objective look at your situation. You don't want to work at a company - fair enough - neither did I. So you're not alone there.

You hate working at the customer service job you have - fair enough - I'd hate that too. So, get a different job.

You dropped out of school because you don't want to work at a company - this is where your logic is flawed. You drop out of school because you don't like school anymore, you change your major when you don't like where the degree you are getting is taking you.

If I can make good living doing what I love. That's success in my books. I don't have to be "liked". I never said that. It just feels like I'm the only INTP in real world and that can make me feel bit depressing sometimes. Not getting along isn't that easy for me.

You want to do something you love - interesting - so did I. Another unfortunate aspect of the real world is I've had to work my ass off towards accomplishing those goals. You can't wait for someone to hand you the keys to your life goals and there are no cheat codes in this.

So do you know what you love to do? If not take some time and do some serious soul searching. You hate dealing with people, understandable - here are some jobs you could consider that won't require you to deal with people too often once you finally get through all of the training required. Obviously it's not an exhaustive list and I don't really know enough about you to offer any serious suggestions, but there are options out there for people that don't want to interact socially.

- pilot (there are some cargo jobs etc where you can spend all day alone in the plane and never have to talk to another person accept ATC but the pay is not outstanding)
- underwater welder (you'll really spend a lot of time in solitary confinement in this job)
- mortician / medical examiner (yeah it's creepy, but there won't be much conversation depending on where you work)
- night security guard
- semi-truck driver
- national park ranger
- geologist
- PhD in environmental sciences (with a nature / animal life focus etc - those dudes go out in the woods for days by themselves)
- secluded writer
- patent lawyers (got a friend doing this - it's mostly hunting through science data, expert testimony, and a little bit of social interaction) *he did need a science master's first though to make really good money.

of course you will always have to have some contact with people, but I can definitely say that pilot, underwater welder, park ranger will give you the absolute least amount of required social interaction...

 

[Eruca]

INTPs are losers. Because, you know, success is defined by popularity, a great social life, caring and being there for lots of people who need you...
Yeah right. If you take the ESFJ definition of success, INTPs are losers by definition. The catch is: this isn't true, even if popular culture says otherwise. Success or failure is different from one person to another.
When would you consider yourself successful? If you are happily married? If you discovered something in science? If you have got a big house, a powerful car,...?

I doubt many people define success as the latter. Although, obviously, the popularity thing can be dead on.

 

[Shimmy]

Isn't a feeling of Weltschmerz part of the INTP identity btw?

 

[think2much]

You dropped out of school because you don't want to work at a company - this is where your logic is flawed. You drop out of school because you don't like school anymore, you change your major when you don't like where the degree you are getting is taking you.

I wasn't motivated to do anything. I missed too many dealines which ruined my GPA. I'm taking some time off to just think where I want to go with my life.

 

[spin-1/2-nuclei]

I wasn't motivated to do anything. I missed too many dealines which ruined my GPA. I'm taking some time off to just think where I want to go with my life.

That sucks about your GPA, maybe you can go talk to someone in the undergraduate advising office and they might be willing to permit you to do a retroactive withdraw from those courses to give you a clean slate. You said you were having motivation issues and I'm not a psychologist but that might be something that you can get a doctor's note for.

When I was in undergrad plenty of rich kids bombed out of an entire semester from binge drinking and rushing. They got their parents to take them to a shrink who wrote a note saying that they had drinking problems and weren't mature enough for college or whatever. Obviously a load of shit, but they came back a couple of semesters later and started over with a clean slate for their GPA. Not really fair imho, but hey if it works...

Either way I think you should definitely steer clear of anything important until you find some motivation and figure out what you want to do. You can start making mistakes that you can't take back at this stage, but I am confident that once you get to a point where you know what you want to do and how to get there you'll see things differently. Good luck.

 

[Salomé]

Seriously. INTPs are cool. The main character in my current writing project is one, and he's a gem .

Sure. The fictional ones are awesome.

 

[Tamske]

Sure. The fictional ones are awesome.

I don't know any real ones. Probably there are some INTPs among my friends, but I don't know their types.
I'm sure there are awesome INTPs in reality too

 

[goodgrief]

Sure. The fictional ones are awesome.

So are the real ones. I know 2.

 

[Unique]

Damn those brainwashing SJs making INTPs think stuff they care about is important =P

Seriously though, I'm not rich or have a lot in the way of material goods or any of that stuff valued by the majority and I'm perfectly happy

As long as I have enough money to live and my own thoughts I'm happy as a clam

Live life your way

 

[INTP]

I'm sure there are awesome INTPs in reality too

actually there isnt intps in reality at all. we are all computer viruses that have formed an artificial intelligence and we only live in internet world. if you see someone who is an intp in real world, you either mistyped him or hes an android

 

[goodgrief]

lol.

 

[Salomé]

So are the real ones. I know 2.

Me too.

I honestly don't think this has anything to do with being an INTP. I've read your other posts in this thread and in my opinion you just need a different lens through which to look at life.

Being "understood" by other people is not something that will ever come instantly, and since we are all so different being understood by everyone is impossible. You also can't expect to have meaningful friendships if you don't have respect for the personalities of others.
You say that people think that you are "weird" but it seems that you dislike most people as well... which is a pretty huge hurdle to overcome.

You are basically saying that you don't find any value in other people but you want them to find value in you. This isn't really possible since most human interactions are only successful when there is a two- way street. Lopsided relationships typically fail or end with the people having unhealthy parasitic associations with one another.

I'm no psychologist but in my opinion you have to first be comfortable with yourself. What I mean is you have to embrace who you are. So if you truly can't find any value in anybody else then you have to accept that you will be alone as a consequence. If the effect of finding no value in others is too much weight for you to carry then you have to reevaluate the way you view other people, which means you will have to change yourself. On the other hand, there is no need for you to change anything if you find that you really don't find anyone in this entire world interesting enough to remember their name or respect who they are as a person and get to know them.

Either way you will have to come to terms with the fact that you can only control yourself and the way other people react to who you decide to be is out of your control. If you find that you are the person you want to be (the guy who doesn't find any other person worthy of
interest) then you cannot complain that they return the favor to you.
On the other hand if you want to be another guy (the guy who tries to find interest in some person and develop a relationship which would require remembering their name) then you might find that there are more people out there that are suitable to you than you think.

This is good advice. I'd agree with most of it except that I do think type is relevant here. Young INTPs, in particular, are effectively socially handicapped. Their way of perceiving the world is so alien to most people and they encounter similar minds so infrequently that being labelled "odd" and becoming isolated are pretty much inevitable.
And, yes, there are things one can do to make oneself more socially acceptable, but the resulting interactions are generally so unsatisfying, that the sense of isolation simply intensifies.

There are two main paths to satisfaction in life: work and relationships. Since relationship is frequently the more difficult challenge, INTPs may devote themselves to work or studies where they frequently excel. However, too much isolation, coupled with the nihilist outlook of the Rational, can lead to an apathy which makes any kind of sustained effort impossible. We seem to be rather low energy individuals with restricted needs in terms of physical environment or external indicators of success, and it can be difficult to find sufficient motivation to set and pursue goals to completion.
Our reward system is internally focused and to conceptualise a favourable result can be enough for us. Unfortunately, physically anchored as we are to a concrete world of things and people, it turns out not to be enough.

 

[JayPLac]

If ignorance is bliss, then the INTP's life is the opposite of bliss. Being an INTP is like watching the alcoholic friend kill themselves with alcohol, except your friends are doing it with lack of thought instead. This is especially true during election season.

 

[Sacrophagus]

You might hate yourself as an individual all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that INTPs are epic brainstormers and theoretical geniuses.