[misslovegood]

As INFJs, we know how hard it can be feeling like a permanent outsider. It can feel like there's no place for us in the world and like no one sees us for how valuable we are.

So I thought it would be nice to make an encouragement thread with any pictures, videos, quotes, poems, or words of encouragement for each other for when life just gets a little too hard.

Also, if you've recently come out of a hard time, maybe share some tips for the rest of us!

 

[Sedem]

"What he really needed to do was keep moving forward like a train rolls on down the tracks. Yes, there is all this heartache on the way. But, Bob’s motto was “Don’t look back.” "

 

[Nephilibata]

"Normal is an allusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly."

"It is possible to commit no mistake and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life."

"She understood that the hardest times in life were when you're transitioning from one version of yourself to another." (obvs applicable to other genders too)

 

[Nephilibata]

oh I found this. I don't know if anyone else will find this useful but I'm pretty idealistic compared to most people I know and this little story helped make me feel not so 'wrong' for being the way I am

http://www.all-creatures.org/stories/starfish.html

 

[sempiternal]

A fellow INFJ friend shared these with me:

The Quiet Place Project

The Thoughts Room

The Dawn Room

She says she likes to visit the Thoughts Room when she's upset, but everyone's encouragement needs may be different.

And of course, some quotes:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
–Steve Jobs

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
–Mahatma Ghandi

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”
–Rumi

"Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all — in which case, you fail by default."
–J.K. Rowling

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
–Nelson Mandela

 

[Elvish Lives]

I think 'the outsider' is precisely what most INFJs will be if they truly follow their muse. Being an outsider is really just the byproduct of being an original thinker, because to with in lockstep with the rest of society is to conform to the thoughts of others. I don't really have any kumbaya-level encouragement, but we can all take some comfort in the notion that if you feel like you don't belong, that's when you know you're doing it right.

 

[Silent Theory]

 

[Silent Theory]

 

[Azure Dreamer]

 

[Azure Dreamer]

 

[Faery]

These images might seem discouraging instead of encouraging, but for some reason I'm affected by them differently. They make me feel better, strangely enough.

This one=stop being indifferent, apathetic, and like everyone else. Care about something when no one else does, care about someone when no one else will. Sometimes when I'm sad or angry, I try to convince myself not to give a fuck (and lying to myself only works for so long). Instead, I give a fuck.

This one is just freeing. Sometimes I'm so overwhelmed by other people's feelings for/toward me, and feel obligated to do things or talk to people when I don't want to. It's nice to imagine no one really cares. That means I don't have to.

This one helps me take myself, the world, and life less seriously.

 

[DuCiel]

“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.” - Henry Ford

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!" - Goethe

"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve" - Napoleon Hill

"Not resting on the fruits of action, do the job that needs to be done." - Bhagavad Gita

 

[Vivid Melody]

 

[misslovegood]

 

[Silent Theory]

 

[Azure Dreamer]

 

[Drecon]

I'd like to share a quote from a friend of mine who was there for me after I tried to kill myself. It was a long time ago and I got much better after that, partly thanks to this quote.

"Doing your best is not just enough. It's so much more than anyone can expect from you."

 

[Azure Dreamer]

Humanity cannot forget it's dreamers;
It cannot their ideals fade and die;
It knows them as the realities which it shall one day see and know.
-James Allen

There can be no progress unless people have faith in tomorrow. -John F Kennedy

 

[zordog]

How to Begin Each Day

"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own — not of the same blood or birth, but of the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions."
Marcus Aurelius