Any other INFJs feel they are extremely introverted but not particularly "shy"?
I am extremely introverted - I much, much prefer spending time alone and I find superficial interaction especially painful. This much I know. I spend most of my time alone, voluntarily. I am a fully paid-up introvert, no doubt about it.
But it's strange, because to look at me you'd be forgiven for mistaking me for an extrovert. I go to great pains to be warm and accomodating with people, it's just that in one-on-one interactions especially I tend to do a lot more listening than talking, unless I have something really weighing on me.
In social groups, then, I go to almost the opposite extreme, and I find that I overcompensate for my difficulty with small talk by being extremely random and "crazy". I was actually the class clown throughout much of secondary school - I got notes home from school for wrapping my friend in sellotape, wearing a scarf as a turban, tattoing a green moustache onto myself with a highlighter pen, making a tin foil hat and wearing it to physics class... you get the idea. It's my default behaviour when dealing with social situations I find hard to cope with.
I just think it's strange that someone can be so isolationist in some ways, and yet *appear* so bubbly and social... I did read somewhere that INFJs can be the introverted type most likely to be mistaken for extroverts. Do you guys find this to be the case??
I am extremely introverted - I much, much prefer spending time alone and I find superficial interaction especially painful. This much I know. I spend most of my time alone, voluntarily. I am a fully paid-up introvert, no doubt about it.
But it's strange, because to look at me you'd be forgiven for mistaking me for an extrovert. I go to great pains to be warm and accomodating with people, it's just that in one-on-one interactions especially I tend to do a lot more listening than talking, unless I have something really weighing on me.
In social groups, then, I go to almost the opposite extreme, and I find that I overcompensate for my difficulty with small talk by being extremely random and "crazy". I was actually the class clown throughout much of secondary school - I got notes home from school for wrapping my friend in sellotape, wearing a scarf as a turban, tattoing a green moustache onto myself with a highlighter pen, making a tin foil hat and wearing it to physics class... you get the idea. It's my default behaviour when dealing with social situations I find hard to cope with.
I just think it's strange that someone can be so isolationist in some ways, and yet *appear* so bubbly and social... I did read somewhere that INFJs can be the introverted type most likely to be mistaken for extroverts. Do you guys find this to be the case??