Okay, I'm sure there are a million of these, but I really need to know if I'm an INFJ or an ISFJ. I see so many aspects of myself in both. My sister and mother are probably the epitomes of ISFJ's, and we are so very different in some ways. I'm going to list some things about me and even how I am the same and different from my mom and sister. I think the differences are subtle, but all in all we have a different way of viewing the world and how we want our lives. When I test, Se and Si usually come very close within one another, it's strange.
1) I'm very prudent. I don't take big risks. BUT I am a lot more inclined to take them than my sister and mother, especially my mother. For example, my sister and I traveling to my horse shows. My mom is VERY concerned about every little detail. "Where are you staying? How much money does gas cost there? Is the hotel any good? What are it's rates? How far are you going to have to travel from home to the motel?" Little minutia that drives me CRAZY. Like seriously, mom, don't worry about it. You can't know every little detail! Now, I'm NOT one to take off without any sort of planning (which tells me I'm not IxFP like I used to think I was.) I will make sure that we have the money, a place to stay, and a reliable way to get there. I DO like to have a plan. Also, in the example of my mother once again, she would always bombard me with questions when I said I was going to a friend's house. "Who's their parents? Where do they live? What are they going to feed you? Is their house nice? What do their parents do for a living? What's you friend like?" UGH. Now, I have vague interest in these things, but not for the same reasons my mother does. I want to know about the person on a deeper level. I might think "Since your mom is a teacher, what does that mean for you, my friend?" rather than the sake of knowing alone. One time I was talking about how my friends' mom wanted to take us just to go get some frozen yogurt at the family owned parlor in the next town over. I began telling my mom about how much fun it was, how funny her mom was, how we laughed, how my french vanilla bean frozen yogurt tasted like a cloud from Heaven. What did she want to know? "What car did her mom drive? What does she look like? Where was the parlor at? What did it look like?" UGH. I don't remember because, ya know, I was too busy enjoying my time with my friend and my ice cream that I didn't notice what route we took to get to place. I might remember what color her car was maybe? So I might respond to her with "Just a little red car." I'm not familiar with car models. On a rare occasion, I might remember it being a Chevy because I saw the logo on her steering wheel or something. My sister doesn't do this, but rather, she wants to know every little detail of the conversations I had with them. Like, for example, I might say "My friend was telling me she wants to become a nurse! Isn't that cool? I think she'd be so good at that." and my sister would agree but then proceed to say, "Where does she want to work as a nurse? Is she going to move away or stay in this area?" to which I respond, "Oh... I don't know. I didn't ask. I assume she's going to move away maybe because she complains about how boring it is here." and my sister just kind of looks at me in bewilderment. I've often got remarks from her along the lines of, "What do you and your friends even talk about?" to which I respond "Uhhh.. I don't know." but in truth we will discuss something weird like our opinions on ghosts... LOL! My friends have to be just as strange as me :tongue:
I can become disinterested when people talk about the little details of their current lives. I'd much rather hear about what you want for your future because I see potential in everyone.
2) I can be somewhat scared about sudden change in my life. Like, right now, if I got a random invite to be whisked away to a lovely college dedicated to equestrians, I would be somewhat hesitant. But not really because it would disrupt my comfortable but oh-so BORING life now, but because I would miss my family dearly. I don't care about leaving my lifestyle behind. In fact, I despise my lifestyle now. But that's a rant for another time. When I was little my sister, myself, and a family very close to us went on an out-of-country vacation. I was SO excited... Until I got there. Then I started missing my mom, dad, and pets A LOT. I cried. I wanted to go back home so I could see them. I couldn't even call them. If I could have done that, I would've been right as rain. (After the first day I was perfectly fine and even kind of forgot about home. Lol!) In fact, I went on many smaller vacations after that and as long as I had my sister with me and could call my mother, I never thought twice about going back home. IN FACT I OFTEN DIDN'T WANT TO. Haha.
3) I've always loved abstract theory. I had the biggest imagination when I was little. Still do. I was disinterested in ANYTHING that was non-fiction or didn't have some sort of fantastical element to it. It was a chore to get me to read stories that were "realistic." The only way was maybe if it had some sort of science or historic element to it. Otherwise, I would complain of being bored through the whole thing. I would daydream ALL the time. It was hard to get me to concentrate unless the subject was something of interest. Even then, I'd ask unusual questions about whatever I was learning and was always a step ahead sometimes. I'd learn something to what I felt was it's full potential and want to move on. That's why I excelled in science but SUCKED in mathematics because that was something that was not only boring but required practicing one concept over and over and that made me want to rip my hair out. I was REALLY good at English. I was home schooled, and my sister said that she barely had to teach me to read (it was her who taught me.) I just magically started doing it with little instruction. Same with learning to write.
4) I'm incredibly drawn to mysticism. Ever since I was a little girl I always wanted a deeper understanding of the world on a spiritual level. I was never happy with things as they are. For example, I had a wild imagination. I was the little girl who collected rocks because I thought there was something special about them. I couldn't tell you what that special was, but I just KNEW it was and if you tell me it's just a rock, like my sister often did, I'm gonna fight you.
(What's funny is I still do this. Sister tells me I can't accept anything at face value. I collect crystals, dream catchers, and objects that have symbolism to me like keys)
5) I'm always thinking forward. I was one of the few children who KNEW what she wanted to be when she grew up: a veterinarian. Guess what? I'm in college studying to get into the veterinary technology program. I was torn between a couple other careers like game design and acting, but I wanted to go with the one that had a higher purpose, was stable, and is something I'm sure I would never ever get "bored" of. I also got lots of people around me saying that they always knew that working with animals was my true calling and I have not diverted my course since. My mind is set, though for awhile I wavered because the others satisfied my need to have art in my life. But the truth is: I suck at art. I can never get what's in my head into real life when it comes to art. At least not the way I want it.
6) I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. While I never voice this outwardly to anyone, I've always had dreams of meeting my "prince charming" and living this ever-so perfect life. When it comes to any sort of relationship, I see through rose-colored lenses. I have high standards for people and am often disappointed when they aren't what I envisioned them to be.
7) My sister has a habit of letting people take advantage of her. She can be somewhat of a doormat. Oh, I can be too, but I can tell when someone is trying to take advantage of me but I go along with them anyway because I don't want conflict. My sister lacks that ability and when I try to tell her what people are doing she doesn't believe me. Ugh. Like one time, at my 15th birthday party, she gave one of her friends some money to hold on to in case my friends and I wanted to play some arcade games at the bowling alley. I tried to warn her that she shouldn't do that, because I just knew she would steal it or something, despite there being no prior evidence to say she would. My sister basically told me whatever. Welp, sure as anything, she never gave my sister back the money and said we spent it. Didn't surprise me at all and I had an "I told you so" moment. What really irritates me is that she's still friends with her. Me? I would've kicked her to the curb for that.
8) I do have an inability to live in the moment, I think. In fact, if I had one wish to go back to the past, it would be to go back to times where I was too worried about what's going on next to enjoy myself. I do this all the time. BUT sometimes I get panicked and overwhelmed with how things are NOW. Like one time I could've swore my instructor was going to fail me on a paper so I was more inclined to just drop the class altogether despite it being a required course. My sister tries to talk sense into me when that happened but I was hellbent on my insight despite not being able to present any evidence that I would be failed on it. I didn't see the big picture that one little paper or even class wasn't going to extremely affect my future. I didn't end up dropping the course and I actually got a B+ on the paper. But it was causing me so much stress that I didn't care.
9) This is a little thing, but I tend to have a habit of not eating anything at all or EATING EVERYTHING IN SIGHT. If I'm really busy I won't even realize how hungry I am but if I'm bored I get really hungry and then I get moody. I have "hanger" issues, meaning I get angry when I'm hungry :laughing: BUT my mom and sister don't do this. Also, when they eat, they stop totally when they're full. I don't. If something tastes good to me I keep eating it despite my body's protests. I hear that Introverted Sensors are very aware of their bodies. Me? I'm either totally unaware of my body or hyper-aware of it. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. My sister and mom aren't. They're fully aware of what's normal for their bodies and what's not. They're able to sit here and say, "Okay, this has happened with my body once before and I was fine." I don't have that. At all. I'm the person who suddenly becomes aware of my heartbeat and thinks I'm having a heart attack or something. LOL.
10) I experience some sort of "disembodiment" at times where I'm neither connected to my environment or my body. It's like I'm stuck in some sort of "haze" and the only way I can break out of it is by interacting with my environment. This happens especially when I awake from a dream. My dreams are VERY bizarre too. I won't even elaborate because they're so strange.
11) I get overwhelmed with too much sensory information. I CANNOT have a face-paced job. I once worked at a movie theater and it was actually hell on earth for me. It was loud and I was expected to multitask ALL the time. I also have trouble remember tedious processes. There was a special way we had to process loyalty cards and I could never remember it and even got chastised for it once. I would get pounding headaches and would get sick at my stomach because it was too much for me. I quit. I couldn't take it. I had a job at a small little dollar store for some time. Much better. Allowed me to think while I worked. My sister is easily able to remember how to do processes and tedious work. I can't. Not at all. We both get overwhelmed by too much going on and prefer the quiet, but she is able to at least REMEMBER how to do the job. LOL. I hate jobs that are overly structured. It stressed me out.
12) When my father died, it was extremely hard for my mother to move on. It's understandable, but she was fixated. Her health even declined. I'm not saying I don't miss my father, I think about him every single day, but my mom is still coming to grips about living without him. When my mother had her stroke, my sister became very fearful and hasn't behaved the same around my mother as she did before. Me? I'm not saying I wasn't affected, because it did have some psychological damage on me, but they cannot move on whatsoever. My mother has an extremely detailed memory and talks about them frequently. I have a somewhat detailed memory in the sense that I can remember certain sights and impressions I had. I remember the layout of my beloved childhood home BUT when I was little I made a little "vow" to myself that I'd never forget the homes I lived in. I don't know why. But I still don't dwell on my past much.
13) This is where I start to think I have Si. One time I was kind of forced to jump in the pool and ended up hitting my back on the side, winding myself, and going under water. I broke my tail bone and winded myself badly. Wouldn't jump in the pool again for a LONG time. However, one time I fell off a horse and got winded as well as it hitting my head to the point of dizziness and ear-ringing. I didn't have a concussion or anything. However, as soon as I recovered, I was back to riding without a second thought. In fact, I kind of forgot this happened until just now as I wrote it. Hm. My sister and mom did NOT want me to get back on that horse, ever. Lol.
Okay, I can't think of much else. Please respond. Thanks.
1) I'm very prudent. I don't take big risks. BUT I am a lot more inclined to take them than my sister and mother, especially my mother. For example, my sister and I traveling to my horse shows. My mom is VERY concerned about every little detail. "Where are you staying? How much money does gas cost there? Is the hotel any good? What are it's rates? How far are you going to have to travel from home to the motel?" Little minutia that drives me CRAZY. Like seriously, mom, don't worry about it. You can't know every little detail! Now, I'm NOT one to take off without any sort of planning (which tells me I'm not IxFP like I used to think I was.) I will make sure that we have the money, a place to stay, and a reliable way to get there. I DO like to have a plan. Also, in the example of my mother once again, she would always bombard me with questions when I said I was going to a friend's house. "Who's their parents? Where do they live? What are they going to feed you? Is their house nice? What do their parents do for a living? What's you friend like?" UGH. Now, I have vague interest in these things, but not for the same reasons my mother does. I want to know about the person on a deeper level. I might think "Since your mom is a teacher, what does that mean for you, my friend?" rather than the sake of knowing alone. One time I was talking about how my friends' mom wanted to take us just to go get some frozen yogurt at the family owned parlor in the next town over. I began telling my mom about how much fun it was, how funny her mom was, how we laughed, how my french vanilla bean frozen yogurt tasted like a cloud from Heaven. What did she want to know? "What car did her mom drive? What does she look like? Where was the parlor at? What did it look like?" UGH. I don't remember because, ya know, I was too busy enjoying my time with my friend and my ice cream that I didn't notice what route we took to get to place. I might remember what color her car was maybe? So I might respond to her with "Just a little red car." I'm not familiar with car models. On a rare occasion, I might remember it being a Chevy because I saw the logo on her steering wheel or something. My sister doesn't do this, but rather, she wants to know every little detail of the conversations I had with them. Like, for example, I might say "My friend was telling me she wants to become a nurse! Isn't that cool? I think she'd be so good at that." and my sister would agree but then proceed to say, "Where does she want to work as a nurse? Is she going to move away or stay in this area?" to which I respond, "Oh... I don't know. I didn't ask. I assume she's going to move away maybe because she complains about how boring it is here." and my sister just kind of looks at me in bewilderment. I've often got remarks from her along the lines of, "What do you and your friends even talk about?" to which I respond "Uhhh.. I don't know." but in truth we will discuss something weird like our opinions on ghosts... LOL! My friends have to be just as strange as me :tongue:
I can become disinterested when people talk about the little details of their current lives. I'd much rather hear about what you want for your future because I see potential in everyone.
2) I can be somewhat scared about sudden change in my life. Like, right now, if I got a random invite to be whisked away to a lovely college dedicated to equestrians, I would be somewhat hesitant. But not really because it would disrupt my comfortable but oh-so BORING life now, but because I would miss my family dearly. I don't care about leaving my lifestyle behind. In fact, I despise my lifestyle now. But that's a rant for another time. When I was little my sister, myself, and a family very close to us went on an out-of-country vacation. I was SO excited... Until I got there. Then I started missing my mom, dad, and pets A LOT. I cried. I wanted to go back home so I could see them. I couldn't even call them. If I could have done that, I would've been right as rain. (After the first day I was perfectly fine and even kind of forgot about home. Lol!) In fact, I went on many smaller vacations after that and as long as I had my sister with me and could call my mother, I never thought twice about going back home. IN FACT I OFTEN DIDN'T WANT TO. Haha.
3) I've always loved abstract theory. I had the biggest imagination when I was little. Still do. I was disinterested in ANYTHING that was non-fiction or didn't have some sort of fantastical element to it. It was a chore to get me to read stories that were "realistic." The only way was maybe if it had some sort of science or historic element to it. Otherwise, I would complain of being bored through the whole thing. I would daydream ALL the time. It was hard to get me to concentrate unless the subject was something of interest. Even then, I'd ask unusual questions about whatever I was learning and was always a step ahead sometimes. I'd learn something to what I felt was it's full potential and want to move on. That's why I excelled in science but SUCKED in mathematics because that was something that was not only boring but required practicing one concept over and over and that made me want to rip my hair out. I was REALLY good at English. I was home schooled, and my sister said that she barely had to teach me to read (it was her who taught me.) I just magically started doing it with little instruction. Same with learning to write.
4) I'm incredibly drawn to mysticism. Ever since I was a little girl I always wanted a deeper understanding of the world on a spiritual level. I was never happy with things as they are. For example, I had a wild imagination. I was the little girl who collected rocks because I thought there was something special about them. I couldn't tell you what that special was, but I just KNEW it was and if you tell me it's just a rock, like my sister often did, I'm gonna fight you.
(What's funny is I still do this. Sister tells me I can't accept anything at face value. I collect crystals, dream catchers, and objects that have symbolism to me like keys)
5) I'm always thinking forward. I was one of the few children who KNEW what she wanted to be when she grew up: a veterinarian. Guess what? I'm in college studying to get into the veterinary technology program. I was torn between a couple other careers like game design and acting, but I wanted to go with the one that had a higher purpose, was stable, and is something I'm sure I would never ever get "bored" of. I also got lots of people around me saying that they always knew that working with animals was my true calling and I have not diverted my course since. My mind is set, though for awhile I wavered because the others satisfied my need to have art in my life. But the truth is: I suck at art. I can never get what's in my head into real life when it comes to art. At least not the way I want it.
6) I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. While I never voice this outwardly to anyone, I've always had dreams of meeting my "prince charming" and living this ever-so perfect life. When it comes to any sort of relationship, I see through rose-colored lenses. I have high standards for people and am often disappointed when they aren't what I envisioned them to be.
7) My sister has a habit of letting people take advantage of her. She can be somewhat of a doormat. Oh, I can be too, but I can tell when someone is trying to take advantage of me but I go along with them anyway because I don't want conflict. My sister lacks that ability and when I try to tell her what people are doing she doesn't believe me. Ugh. Like one time, at my 15th birthday party, she gave one of her friends some money to hold on to in case my friends and I wanted to play some arcade games at the bowling alley. I tried to warn her that she shouldn't do that, because I just knew she would steal it or something, despite there being no prior evidence to say she would. My sister basically told me whatever. Welp, sure as anything, she never gave my sister back the money and said we spent it. Didn't surprise me at all and I had an "I told you so" moment. What really irritates me is that she's still friends with her. Me? I would've kicked her to the curb for that.
8) I do have an inability to live in the moment, I think. In fact, if I had one wish to go back to the past, it would be to go back to times where I was too worried about what's going on next to enjoy myself. I do this all the time. BUT sometimes I get panicked and overwhelmed with how things are NOW. Like one time I could've swore my instructor was going to fail me on a paper so I was more inclined to just drop the class altogether despite it being a required course. My sister tries to talk sense into me when that happened but I was hellbent on my insight despite not being able to present any evidence that I would be failed on it. I didn't see the big picture that one little paper or even class wasn't going to extremely affect my future. I didn't end up dropping the course and I actually got a B+ on the paper. But it was causing me so much stress that I didn't care.
9) This is a little thing, but I tend to have a habit of not eating anything at all or EATING EVERYTHING IN SIGHT. If I'm really busy I won't even realize how hungry I am but if I'm bored I get really hungry and then I get moody. I have "hanger" issues, meaning I get angry when I'm hungry :laughing: BUT my mom and sister don't do this. Also, when they eat, they stop totally when they're full. I don't. If something tastes good to me I keep eating it despite my body's protests. I hear that Introverted Sensors are very aware of their bodies. Me? I'm either totally unaware of my body or hyper-aware of it. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. My sister and mom aren't. They're fully aware of what's normal for their bodies and what's not. They're able to sit here and say, "Okay, this has happened with my body once before and I was fine." I don't have that. At all. I'm the person who suddenly becomes aware of my heartbeat and thinks I'm having a heart attack or something. LOL.
10) I experience some sort of "disembodiment" at times where I'm neither connected to my environment or my body. It's like I'm stuck in some sort of "haze" and the only way I can break out of it is by interacting with my environment. This happens especially when I awake from a dream. My dreams are VERY bizarre too. I won't even elaborate because they're so strange.
11) I get overwhelmed with too much sensory information. I CANNOT have a face-paced job. I once worked at a movie theater and it was actually hell on earth for me. It was loud and I was expected to multitask ALL the time. I also have trouble remember tedious processes. There was a special way we had to process loyalty cards and I could never remember it and even got chastised for it once. I would get pounding headaches and would get sick at my stomach because it was too much for me. I quit. I couldn't take it. I had a job at a small little dollar store for some time. Much better. Allowed me to think while I worked. My sister is easily able to remember how to do processes and tedious work. I can't. Not at all. We both get overwhelmed by too much going on and prefer the quiet, but she is able to at least REMEMBER how to do the job. LOL. I hate jobs that are overly structured. It stressed me out.
12) When my father died, it was extremely hard for my mother to move on. It's understandable, but she was fixated. Her health even declined. I'm not saying I don't miss my father, I think about him every single day, but my mom is still coming to grips about living without him. When my mother had her stroke, my sister became very fearful and hasn't behaved the same around my mother as she did before. Me? I'm not saying I wasn't affected, because it did have some psychological damage on me, but they cannot move on whatsoever. My mother has an extremely detailed memory and talks about them frequently. I have a somewhat detailed memory in the sense that I can remember certain sights and impressions I had. I remember the layout of my beloved childhood home BUT when I was little I made a little "vow" to myself that I'd never forget the homes I lived in. I don't know why. But I still don't dwell on my past much.
13) This is where I start to think I have Si. One time I was kind of forced to jump in the pool and ended up hitting my back on the side, winding myself, and going under water. I broke my tail bone and winded myself badly. Wouldn't jump in the pool again for a LONG time. However, one time I fell off a horse and got winded as well as it hitting my head to the point of dizziness and ear-ringing. I didn't have a concussion or anything. However, as soon as I recovered, I was back to riding without a second thought. In fact, I kind of forgot this happened until just now as I wrote it. Hm. My sister and mom did NOT want me to get back on that horse, ever. Lol.
Okay, I can't think of much else. Please respond. Thanks.