Introverted
My freshman year at BYU, I took the Myers Briggs test and it labeled me an INTJ. The “I” is for Introvert, and multiple people told me there was just absolutely no way I was an introvert. I, however, was not surprised at all. I would have been utterly shocked (and disregarded the results altogether) if it had labeled me an extrovert.
How you know you’re an introvert at heart:
Go to the Texas Library Association conference. Eat the same things you always do, sleep as much as you normally do, work out, but spend the day meeting people instead of walking around campus and work. Come home and sleep for two days in order to stop feeling the overwhelming crush of exhaustion.
I normally get seven hours of sleep a night. Last night, I got ten, and I’m just barely starting to come out of the fog.
Fortunately, I have piles of new books and a pan of Andes mint brownies with which to nurture my antisocial introverted side.
I’ve always been classified as being an introvert as well. Sometimes I agree and sometimes I don’t. Someone explained it a little differently to me last time I took a similar test. Extroverts thrive on outside energy where as introverts find that energy within themselves. I found that this helped me understand a little more why I could be considered an introvert–I don’t need others or events to give me energy. LOL–does that even make sense? I guess it did to me at the time.
I am a bit of an introvert as well.
Come by and see the award you have been given. 🙂
YES. THIS IS SO TRUE.
The conference was amazing but also very, very terrifying. And today, I am still at my parents’ house recovering. Two fulls days to recover from 1.5 days at a conference. I always have disliked the term “antisocial” because it reminds me of antisocial personality disorder – i.e. sociopaths. Which I hope I’m not?
How interesting. I think Im in the same boat. I was an INTP when I took that test. You definitely come across as an E-type, tho I think Trish’s explanation is right. Thanks for the post. 🙂
I’m an INTJ, too, and apparently, we’re a rare breed.
Yep, a conference or trade show just about does me in, also. But then I don’t really care for places where there are masses of people. Add that to being basically shy… That’s why I like blogging. It is easier to write about how I feel than it is to say it to someone’s face. Oh, I like Trish’s definition of an introvert, too. Not even going to look at the brownie recipe. Too dangerous.:)
I don’t know about the NTJ part, but I like being an introvert…it’s quieter. ;o)
xox
I’ve taken the test twice and once I was an ENTJ and once I was an INTJ. I guess I’m right on the line when it comes to introvert/extrovert. I definitely like and need my alone time, but after too much time I start going crazy.
Mmmm, andes mint brownies. Now that’s the way to recover!
I usually never, ever agree
with those psych tests. I remember
having to take multiple ones
in college…psh. And for some
reason, they never seemed to match
me. Or maybe I've been lying to
myself all along of who I really
am? Mmm.
Anyways.
A pile of new books and Andes
mint brownies sound like the
perfect way to spend a Sunday. <3
Love that test and the book that explains it all called Please Understand Me. My parents raised us with that book calling people “NTs” or “SFs” to help us understand them I a little better. Love the system to describe people my husband is an INTJ and after any major event he needs recovery time.
i’m an INTP. the I is definitely an energy thing; i get my energy from being alone, inside myself, while Es get their energy from other people. i totally understand where you’re coming from on that! enjoy those new books and brownies!
Introverts unite! It’s so good to be content with our own thoughts to keep us company.
I took the indicator in college, too, and I was insanely strongly tended to be ISTJ. No neutral ground for this girl. It helped me understand my behavior in general, but especially why I am so exhausted after social or family events. I’ve made more of an effort to have time to myself to recharge, and I think it’s been helpful.
I’m an ISFJ and I totally understand the overwhelming crush of exhaustion feeling you have after being surrounded by so many people.
One of the things I remember them saying when I was classified as an introvert was that it wasn’t so much how you presented yourself to others that indicated whether you were introverted or not, but how you recharged yourself, and how you viewed your own psyche, internally. For those of us that are introverted, we require time each day to be alone (“me” time) so we can regroup and when we view ourselves, it’s as if we were narrating our lives to ourselves in our head as we do it. Extroverts require other people around to recharge and view their life in a more 3rd-person perspective. Fascinating, I think.
Me too. Which is probably why I prefer blogging to actually going out and finding a friend to do a play date with. In every other category I score right about in the middle so my precise personality type is hard to pinpoint, but I’m always way to the one side of the scale on “intorvert.” MB descriptor of this trait makes perfect sense to me.
I’m an ENFP!