[Ćerulean]

I don't know whether this thought has occurred among other INFJ types, but do you ever wish you were another personality type? Sometimes I question why on earth did I have to be 0.5 percent of the population. I'd like to take a step in the shoes of a more 'normal' type, to put it broadly, just so I could say the world from a less symbolic sense. I get all too often caught up in my introverted side, and I just wonder what life would be like without all these hidden meanings, secretiveness, intuition, and just seeing the world as it is. I'm almost never at peace with who I am; there is always something to be improved, I can't stop and breathe, and I realize that's just how my personality is, and I can't inherently change it.

Don't get my wrong here, I can appreciate all that is INFJ with our unique qualities 'n such, but I'd like to experience the day in the life of, say, an ESTP, what they think about and deal with issues.

Have any of you guys out there thought about this?

 

[Marco Antonio]

I don't know whether this thought has occurred among other INFJ types, but do you ever wish you were another personality type? Sometimes I question why on earth did I have to be 0.5 percent of the population. I'd like to take a step in the shoes of a more 'normal' type, to put it broadly, just so I could say the world from a less symbolic sense. I get all too often caught up in my introverted side, and I just wonder what life would be like without all these hidden meanings, secretiveness, intuition, and just seeing the world as it is. I'm almost never at peace with who I am; there is always something to be improved, I can't stop and breathe, and I realize that's just how my personality is, and I can't inherently change it.

Don't get my wrong here, I can appreciate all that is INFJ with our unique qualities 'n such, but I'd like to experience the day in the life of, say, an ESTP, what they think about and deal with issues.

Have any of you guys out there thought about this?

I'm feeling quite different, i know i am like this because i chose to see the world like this. For me the world without hidden meanings and possibilities wouldn't be as interesting. Maybe i shouldn't have said the later because i wouldn't know how it was if i didn't have the ability to see it in this way, but maybe that's exactly the reason why we aren't as normal, and normally understood by others.

Another thing to say is, we are also blessed with Se, extroverted sensing, although it might be, not as powerful, as our introverted intuition, we still have this in us. I know it might be difficult to do, but i actually force myself from time to time, to perceive more with the senses in a literal old fashion way . So as to say, trying to train this extroverted sensing, and i have seen this actually helps a lot. makes you feel grounded and alive. it also helps introverted intuition in someway; i'm guessing it lets us gather much more information, or what i like to think as much more hidden meanings.

i don't know if i'm being quite understood here, what i'm trying to say is, we tend to gather information and understand it in other figurative ways, and this without paying as much attention to the concrete environment. So by focusing on the environment itself, we unconsciously gather much more information, and by "Ni" we understand a lot more... or at least that's how i feel and think it works :tongue:

 

[Dr. Metallic]

What I would want is some of the social ease that other types have, like approachability, and getting invited to stuff.
If there were a way to change types and I "flipped the switch," I would be throwing away everything I hold dear about myself.

So, no, I would not change my type. What I will allow and invite is personal growth and experience.

 

[snail]

I don't want to be any type other than what I am, but I do wish that there were more of us sometimes. Then again, I'm not quite as rare as you INFJs.

 

[Surreal Breakfast]

I'm not an INFJ, but there's a type I would rather be too, if I could be an ENFP, then I would.

 

[moon]

Is it possible to change your type? Either intentionally or unintentionally? Can you be one type as a child, another as a teenager & again another as an adult, or only one all your life? Can you "train" yourself into another type? Interesting you ask this I was questioning the same thing last night in my head. I like who I am, but sometimes I feel pressure from society to change, to have ambition & motivation to succeed with school & career. It seems my ESTJ boyfriend knows how to & can do everything, I would like to feel his determination. That or an ENFP.

 

[kafkapoe]

I don't know whether this thought has occurred among other INFJ types, but do you ever wish you were another personality type? Sometimes I question why on earth did I have to be 0.5 percent of the population. I'd like to take a step in the shoes of a more 'normal' type, to put it broadly, just so I could say the world from a less symbolic sense. I get all too often caught up in my introverted side, and I just wonder what life would be like without all these hidden meanings, secretiveness, intuition, and just seeing the world as it is. I'm almost never at peace with who I am; there is always something to be improved, I can't stop and breathe, and I realize that's just how my personality is, and I can't inherently change it.

Don't get my wrong here, I can appreciate all that is INFJ with our unique qualities 'n such, but I'd like to experience the day in the life of, say, an ESTP, what they think about and deal with issues.

Have any of you guys out there thought about this?

the grass is always greener...

although in our case being a more accessable and broader type would make our lives easier i assume.

 

[Ćerulean]

I agree with what most has been said. I mean, if you look at it from another perspective, I'm willing to bet other types, ones with social ease and what most of us strive for, would like to know what it's like to be 0.5 of the population. If I was an ESTP, now that I think about it, I'd be seriously interested in what hidden meanings dwell in the world that I do not pick up on. It's a universal concept really, in that we strive to be more than we already are but cannot have it all; subjectively, we're all 'normal' from person to person. What an ESTP may consider 'normal' is seeing the world through the shoes of an INFJ and vice versa. And that is where personal growth comes in. We can become the change we want, but our personalities will always stay the same over an extended period of time.

 

[Marco Antonio]

Is it possible to change your type? Either intentionally or unintentionally? Can you be one type as a child, another as a teenager & again another as an adult, or only one all your life? Can you "train" yourself into another type? Interesting you ask this I was questioning the same thing last night in my head. I like who I am, but sometimes I feel pressure from society to change, to have ambition & motivation to succeed with school & career. It seems my ESTJ boyfriend knows how to & can do everything, I would like to feel his determination. That or an ENFP.

Typology is all about preferences, so if you prefer to think before you speak then you will be an introvert; then again if time passes and you notice you like it better to start talking as you develop your idea, you could become an extrovert.
It is tricky though...

if you are an INFP (Fi-Ne-Si-Te) and have a strong Ne (extroverted intuition) you could train your Te by focusing more in creating structures and timetables, developing complex plans etc. and start paying more attention to measures and evidence. If you do this well enough and start liking it then your Te could become stronger then your Si, and you would have the chance to probably change into an ENFP (Ne-Fi-Te-Si).

This would mean you would have to change the way you are right now completely. Instead of living in your inner world of values, and paying most attention to whats right or wrong, you would have to change your mind into focusing on the outer world and start noticing how patterns develop in your relationships.

So you would have Fi as second and Ne as primary. You would probably start paying more attention to how you can activate switches, so to speak, in people and could become somewhat a manipulator. Still if your heart is right, then you would notice how you can move people into becoming better... if that's what you want then start training right now

remember your world works right now something like this:
inner values lead supported by high imagination to what would be the best for your values. Your imaginative world is shifted as you grow older, catch more experiences, and gather concrete data. This idealization of your perfect world is rarely supported by structure or linear thinking, you mostly change your perception into what's better from time to time.

if you change your world would become something like this:
world of possibilities in your relationships. Your awareness is focused on people and what could become of them if they followed certain values. You start developing plans and gather evidence of how people interact and what activates certain reactions. Your would pay less attention to concrete data, and start thinking people are always different, so experience is not that important... you will be noticing how to best your relationships in real time action, living much more in the present moments and ignoring what you already did.

 

[Surreal Breakfast]

The INFP description sounds more comforting than the ENFP one.

 

[Tyrael]

I don't know whether this thought has occurred among other INFJ types, but do you ever wish you were another personality type? Sometimes I question why on earth did I have to be 0.5 percent of the population. I'd like to take a step in the shoes of a more 'normal' type, to put it broadly, just so I could say the world from a less symbolic sense. I get all too often caught up in my introverted side, and I just wonder what life would be like without all these hidden meanings, secretiveness, intuition, and just seeing the world as it is. I'm almost never at peace with who I am; there is always something to be improved, I can't stop and breathe, and I realize that's just how my personality is, and I can't inherently change it.

Don't get my wrong here, I can appreciate all that is INFJ with our unique qualities 'n such, but I'd like to experience the day in the life of, say, an ESTP, what they think about and deal with issues.

Have any of you guys out there thought about this?

Not a day goes by without me wishing that I had some extroverted trait. Just to make your life seem more normal and to feel like you belong. One just tend to get very lonely (even as an INFJ who WANTS to be alone). I just want to interact with other people like an extrovert can.
But the biggest reason for me is to be able to handle conflict. It makes me feel like a coward if I always want to cover my head if words are being thrown around. And even if I do take up the mantle...that I don't completely suck at it.
I love being an INFJ, love every quality about it... I guess its our perfectionism that wants me always to be better and more then I am.

 

[Mystic Jenn]

I figure it would be the male INFJs who would want to be another type. Being a female INFJ rocks!

 

[Marco Antonio]

hehehe I also love being an INFJ because subconsciously or not, that's the way i decided to live and to interact.
It's always been rare, and sometimes tough, but i love it, i choose my preferences to be like that, it was me who decided to restrain from direct constant externalization of my values and thoughts and so i became an introvert. It was me who decided to look for inner possibilities, believe in states of awareness and so my introversion became Ni
It's great being an INFJ it gives you so much perspective, you just don't get easily baffled by some "awesome guy in a suit" that's way too predictable LOL (btw. i'm not implying sexual preferences here )

Hehe... but really didn't we all decide how to be?? what's restraining us from not doing so?? As INFJ's you should understand your preferences are the ones manifesting!
Another thing is, you can always choose how to act, think, feel, etc. if you like other functions as well then just train them, there are no restrictions, being typed as an INFJ won't give you ESP LOL. also being typed ESTP won't give you reputation and status... it's all about attitude and self improvement.
Be who you want to be, you can be an INFJ and still have great interactions, living and rejoicing from spontaneity, perceiving concretely with the senses and exploring them, finding patterns in nature, develop strategies and plans of action, etc.

 

[Ethanol]

I don't know whether this thought has occurred among other INFJ types, but do you ever wish you were another personality type?

So many times! I've kind of wanted to be heartless and not take things so personally. Whichever type is heartless, aloof, care free... I kind of would like to be that LOL

Sometimes I question why on earth did I have to be 0.5 percent of the population.

I think it's more difficult being an INFJ male vs. female because honestly... I feel like the fairy tales of men riding in as knights in shining armor, and who marry their women for life and somehow magically creates romance (or even wants it!) describes the male INFJ. They're so rare, it's like believing in Santa Clause after the age of 11 haha.

.... Don't get my wrong here, I can appreciate all that is INFJ with our unique qualities 'n such, but I'd like to experience the day in the life of, say, an ESTP, what they think about and deal with issues.

I'm with you on this. Sometimes I really do wish I could see the world differently, if only for a day... I want to experience what it's like to be that person who is just totally out there in a different way from INFJs.

Have any of you guys out there thought about this?

Oh yah! Probably more so as I was reaching adulthood :laughing:

 

[vocalist]

Is it possible to change your type? Either intentionally or unintentionally? Can you be one type as a child, another as a teenager & again another as an adult, or only one all your life? Can you "train" yourself into another type? Interesting you ask this I was questioning the same thing last night in my head. I like who I am, but sometimes I feel pressure from society to change, to have ambition & motivation to succeed with school & career. It seems my ESTJ boyfriend knows how to & can do everything, I would like to feel his determination. That or an ENFP.

In my experience, this is not a good idea. I tried for a long time to act more like an ESFJ (not calling it that at the time, however), because that was the image of the "ideal mom" in my head. For a while, I even thought I was succeeding. But I couldn't pretend forever, and things finally caught up with me, throwing me into a bout of depression and anxiety. Much better, I now realize, to understand and acknowledge who I really am, and to work with the personality I have been given.

 

[nikkii]

Don't get my wrong I love being a INFJ, my brain never really shuts off because I'm constantly thinking about thats going to happen next or just a lot of other stuff. INFP can have the sense of living and the here and now. ENFP can just really let go of themselves and be a big kid at heart. ENTP's are not afraid to have fun with what they know so yes i have thought about it.

 

[Linus]

I would like to at least be able to pass like everybody else, for sure... To be that way on the surface, as a facade. In reality I have trouble hiding it. It seems more of 'me' is making its way to the body, the physical and I have had to resort to becoming more reclusive

 

[Zomboy]

I see the world my own way.

This explains how I choose to live my life. I will see the world as a playground for the rest of my days (and then some if I can help it)