Excuse me if I
seem a little out-of-sorts or agitated.
Forgive me for
being not myself, but it seems, you see, that myself is not who I believed
myself to be.
I have just
learned that everything I thought I knew about Faith Korbel has changed.
Maybe it’s the
past two years – the pandemic, losing my mother, buying a house, the overall
state of our world – but it seems I am entering 2022 with not just an ulcer
(seriously…I have an ulcer…only 43, no kids, very little to actually worry
about and I’ve fretted myself into an ULCER), but with a completely new
personality.
According to
Myers-Briggs, I have *changed*.
For anyone who
has never taken the Myers-Briggs personality test, it’s a handy dandy tool to
figure out your quirks and how you interact with others in various settings. You answer a bunch of questions and, based on
your responses and the degrees of those responses, you get a personality
inventory back.
Everything is
based on 4 simple letters:
E or I
(Extroversion or Introversion)
N or S
(Intuition or Sensing)
F or T (Feeling
or Thinking)
J or P
(Judgement or Perception)
I first took
the Myers-Briggs right out of college when I joined the Lutheran Volunteer
Corps. As a bunch of 20-somethings,
living in houses with strangers in brand new cities and sharing household
chores and budgets, somebody thought it might be a good idea to do personality
tests. In making collective decisions, it was really helpful to understand
better how your housemates thought through things.
At 23, I was a
solid INFJ. I mean solid. In the little chart showing to what degree
you were each of the letters, I was pretty extreme in every category. There was
very little room to negotiate. I was such an introvert that the person leading
the group session about Myers-Briggs used me in an example of Introverts vs.
Extroverts (which, for an introvert, was pretty hell-ish).
I loved being
an INFJ. I really did. They are the smallest (most exclusive, if you
will 😊) personality group, at only 1-3% of the US
population. Some very cool and important
people are INFJs – Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Jon
Snowe.Yes, that Jon Snowe, and no, I have no idea how they can assign a personality
type to a Game of Thrones character.
INFJs are
considered “Advocates”or “Counselors:.
They are idealists and dreamers who actually follow through on their
dreams. They want to make the world a
better place and are determined to make it that way. While introverts, they are
capable of and value authentic relationships.
They are very creative, motivated, and capable.
I’m a little
bit obsessed with personality types. So ever since that first official test, I
have regularly taken online tests just to see if anything has changed. In 20 years, nothing has changed:
You are an
INFJ.
You are an
INFJ.
You are an
INFJ.
You are an
ISFJ.
Wait…what?
It’s true (it’s
now been validated by 3 different free online M-B tests). My ENTIRE PERSONALITY HAS CHANGED.
Well, 1 of the 4 letters has changed.
Apparently
it’s a pretty important letter, though, because
I’ve gone from the most exclusive Myers-Briggs type to the most common
Myers-Briggs type (ISFJs are 13% of the population).
That should not
matter (it really shouldn't) but, I have to admit, today I feel less like a unicorn.
So, what is the
difference between an N (Intuition) and a S (Sensing)? I’m glad you asked.
People who
score higher in Intuition like to think problems through – tend to be more in
their head. They like new ideas and
spend time thinking about the future.
They ask what’s possible on a large scale. They use the big picture to uncover individual
facts.
People who
score higher in Sensing rely on what they see, hear, touch, taste and smell –
their physical reality – to solve problems.
They rely on their past and present experiences to form their views and
make a plan. They look at the bottom
line. They use individual facts to put together a big picture.
So…I am now an
ISFJ.
ISFJs are “Defenders” or “Nurturers”. They
are emotionally oriented – often remembering details about people rather than facts
or trivia. They want harmony and want to
believe the best of others. They take their responsibilities seriously and can be
relied upon. On the flip side, they have a
tendency to take things personally, can be reluctant to change, and they worry. (Well, that last sentence sure sounds familiar.)
The last two
years have been hard, and I think we are all pretty tapped out in lots of different
ways that we can’t always put into words.
Plus, to go along with the pandemic, I’m hitting middle-age, which has involoved a lot more self-reflection (for better and for worse) than I anticipated.
All to say, I
don’t think I have actually changed.
I think it has
just taken me 20 years and a pandemic to answer the questions honestly, rather than answering
them aspirationally.
I’m not the
person who sees the big vision and starts movements. I’m one of the many people
who helps make the vision happen. I like putting out small, manageable fires. I like reflecting on past experiences. I like balance. That’s where I’m comfortable
and that’s where I’m happy.
Famous ISFJs? Gwyneth
Paltrow, Tiger Woods, Rand Paul, Kim Kardashian....
WAIT, hold on, can I take the test again?
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