INFJ in the Myers-Briggs personality test stands for Introversion (as opposed to Extroversion), Intuition (as opposed to Sensing), Feeling (as opposed to Thinking), and Judging (as opposed to Perceiving).

The INFJ personality type is the rarest personality type (less than 1 percent of the human population identifies as an INFJ). While this is compliment, in my opinion, it can lead to immense struggle. It also has it perks as well (hey Gandhi, and other great people were INFJs too). We're pretty complex people that is for sure. While I certainly don’t speak for all INFJs, I thought I would share my experiences and thoughts on this topic.

I have always felt different from the people around me when it comes to certain aspects in our day-to-day life. I’ve felt sort of out of place with the world and with others at times. It might be because I need some alone time before socializing. It might be because I feel the need to develop deep connections with the people around me. I don't think there is a point to just having meaningless relationships with people. Also I am just a deep (maybe too deep) person. I always search for meanings to everything; even with strangers, I look for meaningful connections. This comes as both a good thing as well as a burden. It's good because I look at things in life beyond than the surface, but at the same time it isn't so good. If I don't find a meaning or can't form one then I just push it away. I admit that at times it's the cause that its hard for people to know me further than the surface. I value my privacy and often feel like I can only be my “true self” around those closest to me. I think part of it is to protect myself, and also to keep the relationships/friendships I have meaningful. In college this has been a struggle, though I am learning slowly to manage it. Being me it has always been hard to say no to people, since I avoid confrontation most of time and let people do whatever they want. Why go into an argument when everything could be calm is my thought process.

This also comes in the form that I want to make sure everyone around me is happy. Whether that means I try my best not to seem annoying, or I try to just be chill and go with the flow for the sake of the people around me. I might be naive in the sense that I truly believe in the best in people. INFJs like to hold out for people even if everything in our being says not to. I try my best to make sure that I am doing everything in my ability to make the people that I care about happy. This is a good thing, but at times this causes me to forget about myself to the point of exhaustion. I am not in any way complaining, though, since it makes me happy doing it.

Though INFJs are introverted, I believe that I am an extroverted introvert. I enjoy meeting new people, and interacting with them, but eventually I need to go back home to recharge. Again it has its pros and cons, and I am also still trying to manage them in my best ability.

Even writing this post I feel like I am oversharing aspects about myself, but I have learned that I need to start doing it a little bit to live my life. I read a quote that I am starting to live by its, " The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all." It really stuck to me that it is in my hands to do what I want, but I need to stop worrying about the negative "what ifs". See I get deep fast, oh well.