lovefool21
New member
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2018
- Messages
- 29
- MBTI Type
- ENFP
Hi all,
I discovered I was an ENFP about 7-8 years ago. I'm mid-thirties now. A lot of my 20s was spent pursuing a creative arts path - in hindsight in ways that were counter-productive and held me back both personally and careerwise. Classic ENFP I fear, we're smart but we can often go about things the wrong way. So that career did not go according to plan.
I got to my 30s, realised I had to establish some financial stability and so went into small time property investment, and through 3 or so years hard work I got myself to a position where I have enough passive income coming in to pay the bills (plus a little extra), for the rest of my life really. I won't be rich but I should be comfortable.
I then decided (due to my parents' past financial mistakes) to go one step further and last year bought a small business to 'catch up' even more financially: worst mistake ever. The business is in a very difficult field and I haven't got the family support I had hoped for, so it has taken over my life. The work is repetitive and an extremely stressful 24/7 responsibility (due to the field it's in), with all the risk on my shoulders should anything happen. The past few months have been real hell. I have now put the business up for sale: but it will take several months to complete the sale, and only sell if I take a very large loss.
Because of my previous hardwork in my early 30s, my lifestyle would still not be affected but on paper I will be somewhat poorer; I'll feel very guilty about losing all that money and will have reduced cash to invest in the future.
I wonder if I have been trying to fight my true personality for the past few years which has led to this unhappy state, and that we're ENFPs for a reason and shouldn't try to be what we're not.
Any other ENFPs care to comment, and also whether they have found happiness while still ticking the conventional boxes? Or have you had to cast all of that aside to be happy?
I discovered I was an ENFP about 7-8 years ago. I'm mid-thirties now. A lot of my 20s was spent pursuing a creative arts path - in hindsight in ways that were counter-productive and held me back both personally and careerwise. Classic ENFP I fear, we're smart but we can often go about things the wrong way. So that career did not go according to plan.
I got to my 30s, realised I had to establish some financial stability and so went into small time property investment, and through 3 or so years hard work I got myself to a position where I have enough passive income coming in to pay the bills (plus a little extra), for the rest of my life really. I won't be rich but I should be comfortable.
I then decided (due to my parents' past financial mistakes) to go one step further and last year bought a small business to 'catch up' even more financially: worst mistake ever. The business is in a very difficult field and I haven't got the family support I had hoped for, so it has taken over my life. The work is repetitive and an extremely stressful 24/7 responsibility (due to the field it's in), with all the risk on my shoulders should anything happen. The past few months have been real hell. I have now put the business up for sale: but it will take several months to complete the sale, and only sell if I take a very large loss.
Because of my previous hardwork in my early 30s, my lifestyle would still not be affected but on paper I will be somewhat poorer; I'll feel very guilty about losing all that money and will have reduced cash to invest in the future.
I wonder if I have been trying to fight my true personality for the past few years which has led to this unhappy state, and that we're ENFPs for a reason and shouldn't try to be what we're not.
Any other ENFPs care to comment, and also whether they have found happiness while still ticking the conventional boxes? Or have you had to cast all of that aside to be happy?