I was always the kind of person that whenever I saw any kind of personality test, I always wanted to take it. Usually they were generic 10-15 question tests out of an Elle, Seventeen or Cosmo magazine and they gave results that were so generalized that they didn't really tell you anything insightful. I guess I should know that taking a personality test in a magazine wouldn't give me quality answers. A few years ago, my sister, Jenn told me about the Myers Briggs/16 personalities test. I am not a psychologist... nowhere close, but the way I understand it is that Myers-Briggs created the 16 types of personalities based off of the work of Carl Jung and categorizes everyone into one of 4 main groups:
Analysts
Diplomats
Sentinels
Explorers
Within each of these 4 main groups are 4 personality types; 2 introverted and 2 extroverted. It was a very interesting test to take and when you get your results, it gives you lots of detail. For example what are your strengths and weaknesses? What kind of partner, parent or friend are you? They will even give you examples of famous people who fit into the same category as you. It will then further break down your results giving you percentages of where you fell as far as:
Extroverted vs Introverted
Intuitive vs. Observant
Thinking vs. Feeling
Judging vs. Prospecting
Assertive vs. Turbulent
Unlike my magazine personality tests, so much of what I read was spot on. If you are interested in taking the test, click here.
My personality type is called "The Defender" (ISFJ) which is one of the introverted personalities under the main category of Sentinels. It is no surprise to me that I am categorized as an introvert; outgoing is not a word I'd use to describe myself. Even though I knew I was introverted from a pretty young age, I didn't know much at all about what the term actually meant other than "shy". I realized that I had gone through most of my life not really understanding my personality. Jenn also fell into an interovert category... I want to say she is the "Advocate" (INFJ) and gave me a book she found called "The Secret Lives of Introverts: Inside Our Hidden World". I'm not trying to sound dramatic here but holy moly. This book was life-changing and SO liberating. There were so many times I was reading the book and thought "wow, it's not just me?".
Over the years, since I know that I tend to be very shy, I have made an effort to try to be more outgoing. Sometimes I'm great at it- I have had people who are genuinely surprised when I tell them that I'm introverted. At my dad's golf tournament, you may have thought I was super outgoing - I was organizing the volunteers, setting up the raffle tables, saying "hello" and "thank you for coming" to like every golfer there, doing the announcements, giving out prizes.... phew. Oh and I played golf too. For an extrovert, they thrive in those kind of environments and gain more energy as they're around more people. Not me. After that, I spent the entire day at home not doing a darn thing and it was wonderful. I needed that time to be alone and relax. In the past, I would have thought that a day alone at home on the weekend must mean I'm a total loser, but now I realize no, I'm not a loser (hopefully...), I just need time alone to recharge, and that's ok!
I hope I didn't get too wordy or overwhelm you with all of this personality stuff. For me, it has been a big help to take this test and try to learn more about my personality (Me in a nutshell). It has also helped me to be better at giving myself grace. We can be so mean to ourselves and it's true that we're our own worst critics. I believe that the more we can learn about our brains and what makes us tick, the more we understand our tendencies and why we react or feel the way that we do. If you do decide to take the test, I'd love to hear what your results were! Enjoy!
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Love the cartoon!