Confession of an ENFJ: mainly confessions of an I.

I am currently following this blog's daily prompts for September. I can't promise I will blog every day but some of the prompts are pretty fun! 

Today's prompt: Let's talk personality types. Introverted? Extroverted? Unsure-troverted? If you know you Myers-Briggs type, share it! If not you can take a similar test here and share your results.

For those of you who don’t know ENFJ stands for extroverted, intuitive, feeling and judging. It is taken from the Myers Briggs Personality Type test. This has been my result for years and years after taking it and going through the Type 2 testing through my church, Flood, where I learned about my personality more in depth. I have wavered a bit with the extroverted/introverted part of the test as well as the feeling/thinking part. One side of the test I have always come out very clearly on is the intuitive part. My husband, Scott is an INFP. One area he always scores quite high in is intuitive as well. Now you know it’s not just opposites attract!

(Note, if you are put off by the author’s name, “Joe Butt” I understand…is this a real person?)

The following statements generally appeal to the intuitive person* 

·      I remember events by what I read "between the lines" about their meaning.

·      I solve problems by leaping between different ideas and possibilities.

·      I am interested in doing things that are new and different.

·      I like to see the big picture, then to find out the facts.

·      I trust impressions, symbols, and metaphors more than what I actually experienced

·      Sometimes I think so much about new possibilities that I never look at how to make them a reality.

These are according to the all research done through the Myers and Briggs Foundation. I think the way I would list my intuitive personality is this:

•      I leap

The judging part of me is smart, plans ahead, makes tons and tons of lists and is very conscientious.

The intuitive part of me seems to be blindly impulsive and a shameless space cadet. After I leap I don’t really have a plan.

Looking back on my life I really have to wonder what I was thinking regarding some of my decisions…

For example…

I left my hometown in Nebraska and drove off to college in Minnesota. 

I was offered a full time job after I graduated. Did I take it? Nnnnoooooo. As if Minnesota wasn't far enough away from my roots,  I thought it would be even more fun to move to San Diego to start graduate school. I left all my family and friends in a blur of happy leaping with only a couple hundred dollars to my name. 

One time I flew away to Morocco for a missions trip to underground churches and slept alone in a strange hotel in Casablanca. 

I love trying new things. One time I snorkeled with barracudas in a cave. (okay, so I didn’t know about the razer tooth creatures when I jumped in…) 

One Christmas I thought I’d be cool to get red low-lights. It was not cool. It was scary. It turned pink later and not in a hip way, in a more sicko pinko way.  

During my trip to Big Bear I jumped off the boat into the icy cold water….it was exhilarating…until I realized I had no way to get back up. #classy

I like talking to random strangers and requesting crazy things such as if I clean your floors for you, will you give me a coffee? (I won't name any names here….starbucks.) I watch too much Cheapstakes on Netflix. #realife

I like that I decided to become a therapist and then worked simultaneously with some of the sweetest and most hostile teens out there.

I’m glad I ate a frog and a cactus and rode a camel. 

I think it’s fun I went to film school. 

Sometimes I just paint whatever is in front of me and this makes Scott very anxious as we are still renting. Sometimes he comes home and I have painted a drawer. Why. Because I felt like it. 

I married my husband and couldn't be more pleased I stuck with my gut on this one

This has all made my life more exciting and adventurous, not necessarily in your typical way of extreme sports or adrenaline junkie way, but in it's own Heather way. But it has it’s disadvantages.

For example, the other day, Scott and I realized with terror that we somehow didn’t renew my car insurance. My car insurance canceled on me. Sometimes being a happy space cadet is not all roses and good cheer. It reminds me that Scott and I fly around by the seat of our pants. Sometimes I am shocked we are legal adults. Who are these people flying about daily acting like they know what they are doing?? They don’t! And the worst part is they make decisions off of how they FEEL!!!! We trust our gut and we trust our impressions more than anything else.  I feel Taylor Swift when she sings, “I stay out too late, nothing in my brain, that’s what people say” One time Scott and I were bored one night so we drove off to a casino. It was one of our favorite memories, the middle of the night, a weird trashy buffet, slot machines in the middle of nowhere…what more could you want?!

 For a long time, I felt that I could not trust my intuitive gut. I felt that it was more spiritual to stick with the “facts” in life, to suppress my feelings and “suck it up”. I figured the more disciplined I was, the less I would feel. Wrong. I was just more repressed. I had feelings all right, deep deep inside. Once I discovered my feelings were not my enemy, and that actually they might be on my side, I realized I could wrap them up in a warm embrace. My gut is worthy of noticing and responding to. My intuition is valuable and worth observing. Today I am grateful for my highly intuitive side even when I can't figure out how to get back on the damn boat. 

What about you? Do you like to leap too?