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[ISTJ] Why Do You Hate Change?

Mal12345

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A story from an ISTJ:
"I volunteer for a non-profit. Recently the director I had worked with for over 7 years had retired. This past Monday was my first day working with the new director. Over the prior weekend she had expanded the office space to an adjoining section of the building and rearranged everything. Not only did I have to adjust to a new boss, I was blind-sided with a different environment. My personal life is stressful and often overwhelming so my volunteering at this office is my only constant. I know exactly what I will be doing, I know what is expected of me and I am secure in my environment due to knowing where everything is. So, back to Monday. I walk in, see the changes and I am furious. I feel alienated, disrespected because there wasn't any heads up about the planned changes and completely unsettled. Apparently I am the only volunteer unhappy with the changes. I believe I had a justifiable response to the situation, but in between the lines of my resulting conversation with the director, it appears my reaction is being reduced to immature hostility. I don't go off all crazy when I'm pissed, I do the quietly restrained thing while I am clenching my jaw. She did actually say I was hostile towards her. I disagree since I was courteous and respectful towards her the few times she talked to me prior to our closed door conversation. Am I so wrong I should apologize or should I be worried about being pushed out."

I think we've all seen the "quietly restrained jaw-clenching" routine from ISTJs. It's that look that makes me want to just punch them in the face.

The fact that only one person out of, say, 20 people is reacting to the change doesn't matter. You think it's all about you.

And the lack of respect toward you. Oh my! We can't have that.

"I believe I had a justifiable response to the situation." And what was that? Uhhhhh...

Get over it and apologize, you silly git.
 

Smilephantomhive

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ISTJs don't hate all change, just change that's inconvientent to them.
 

Mal12345

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ISTJs don't hate all change, just change that's inconvientent to them.

There's no point in qualifying it like that. It's an Si trait to dislike change. And it's circular logic to pinpoint only the inconvenient changes, as in 'ISTJs dislike inconvenient changes.'

The same is true for ESTJ or ESFJ types, although in their case it has to do with making unapproved changes and not just the inconvenient ones. One day my mom decided to change the living room furniture around, and of course when my dad got home from work he was all pissed off about it.

In my case (INTP or IxTP, however you want to slice and dice me), I would have to ask why the change was made. I want to know the purpose of it. Si doesn't want to know why, in my experience, but only wants to complain about showing a lack of respect or not following rules, and things like that.
 

Smilephantomhive

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There's no point in qualifying it like that. It's an Si trait to dislike change. And it's circular logic to pinpoint only the inconvenient changes, as in 'ISTJs dislike inconvenient changes.'

The same is true for ESTJ or ESFJ types, although in their case it has to do with making unapproved changes and not just the inconvenient ones. One day my mom decided to change the living room furniture around, and of course when my dad got home from work he was all pissed off about it.

In my case (INTP or IxTP, however you want to slice and dice me), I would have to ask why the change was made. I want to know the purpose of it. Si doesn't want to know why, in my experience, but only wants to complain about showing a lack of respect or not following rules, and things like that.

I do want to why.
 

Mal12345

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Of course you think I don't lol...

Everybody asks why. The question is, why don't ISTJs ask why at certain times? I guess because yelling and bickering is more fulfilling an activity.
 

Dreamer

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The scenario you present actually makes perfect sense to me and is a reasonable course of action, from her perspective. Where I see the issue though for the ISTJ, is that she is blending her emotions together and allowing that ball of mess to spin her thoughts into supposed attacks on her by everyone else, since they apparently don't share in her anxiety over the changes.

If she were to identify her volunteering job stresses as a different entity, and separate them from her other, personal life stresses, then she could therefore process and rationalize these emotions differently. She may still bring her concerns forward, and that's reasonable, but they may not include that added narrative of people being against her at that point.

So, my read of the situation is that she is not actually concerned with the change itself, but that messy ball of emotions she is trying to contain inside. She has only attached those emotions to the change in her environment and is reacting to that directly as that is the straw the broke her back.
 

Tellenbach

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I see nothing wrong with the reaction of the ISTJ in the story. People in positions of authority are frequently inconsiderate and oblivious to the consequences of their actions. Yes, part of the problem is change but the problem could've been avoided or mitigated somewhat by a heads-up. It's the difference between evicting someone and tossing their belongings out in the street the same day vs. giving them a week's notice so they can mentally prepare for the change.

Should she apologize? No, but the ISTJ should explain to the director how his actions inflicted undue stress on this poor ISTJ volunteer.:D
 

Habba

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Why Do You Hate Change? There's no point in qualifying it like that. It's an Si trait to dislike change. And it's circular logic to pinpoint only the inconvenient changes, as in 'ISTJs dislike inconvenient changes.'

So if you already had your answer, why did you bother asking the question?
 

deathwarmedup

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ISTJs don't hate all change, just change that's inconvientent to them.

Well that's true of me. I ignore rules habitually if it's convenient for me. ISTJ Ones are more rule-bound in my experience, comically so at times.

I also dislike change I suppose, where i have imbibed an idyllic memory of how something was, for example my grandfather's farm when I was a kid and the fact that every time I visited through my teens and the years of his gradual retirement, he'd got rid of something that had made it a farmyard as opposed to a country house and garden. It was never worth more than a mildly disgruntled observation though.

I have a bigger problem with change when it means I can't find my environmental bearings though. Being unable to find things i need when I'm pressured. It's a sense of overwhelm. It's crystallised in my aversion to having to improvise when playing an instrument. I like to know where the next note is coming from. (And I don't even know if that's an Si issue: the biggest my-desk-is-a-mess-and-we-open-for-business-in-two-minutes-and-thirty-four-seconds meltdown I was ever privileged to witness was from a 1w9 INTJ.)
 

Tonitrum

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This looks like random troll hate thread against ISTJ's.
 
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