Bibliovert: best fit yet.
Are you a bibliovert too?
P.S. Extroversion & Introversion, Gilmore Girls style.
P.P.S. Meyers-Briggs, Enneagram, and honoring your personality type.
writing, editing, photography
Bibliovert: best fit yet.
Are you a bibliovert too?
P.S. Extroversion & Introversion, Gilmore Girls style.
P.P.S. Meyers-Briggs, Enneagram, and honoring your personality type.
I love talking about personality types. I find it fascinating that all the people in the world are perfectly unique, but also that most of them fit into one of sixteen different categories when it comes to their basic mode of operating within the world.
While I know that all of these types operate on a sliding scale, and that you can be on the fence or really in-between two descriptors that make you a fringe type, most of us do have dominant personality traits that affect the way we interact and react to others. Last week, we chatted introversion & extroversion, Gilmore Girls style. This week, we’re diving a little deeper into personality types overall as well as how learning my own type helped me be more true to my self.
I’m going to limit this discussion to two: Meyer’s Briggs and Enneagram.
When I talk about personality types, most often I am referring the sixteen types laid out in the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The website 16 Personalities has a wonderful graphic and excellent descriptions for all of the various ones, as well as a free test to figure out your type if you never have (or if you are like me and love taking them every six months or so to see if anything has changed, or if one test tells you something different. Things never change. I am always an INTJ). The different types indicate how a person typically reacts to the world and how they make decisions.
For example, as an INTJ, I am Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, and Judging. This means I gain the most energy from solitary activities, and I rely on collecting a lot of data to make my decisions – tending toward gathering too much most of the time. This also means that I am not always extremely warm and demonstrative with my feelings. The INTJ type is often called “The Architect,” “The Mastermind,” or “The Scientist,” depending on which interpretation of the theory you follow. End result: I over-analyze, expect the best from myself and others, and often distance myself from people who aren’t charging ahead at as full of a steam as I am.
There is also a personality theory called the Enneagram, which is based on nine separate types that are more interconnected. The Enneagram focuses not only on how you act during normal circumstances, but also how you react to the world when under significant stress or times of personal growth.
In keeping with the characteristics of my MBTI categorization of INTJ, I am an Enneagram Type 5, also known as ‘The Investigator.” I live inside my head, like to try new ways of doing things to find the best one, and tend toward isolation. No breaking news there.
What’s interesting about the Enneagram theory is that when under stress, I become a 7, “The Enthusiast”: I seek business and become very scattered. I find this to be absolutely, undeniably true. I even declared my Season of Rest this last year because I was being a 7. All. The. Time. It was exhausting. I didn’t like who I was, and I was doing everything less well than I wanted. At the other end of the spectrum, when I am feeling secure, I slip into type 8, “The Challenger.” I become more self-confident and decisive, but also a little arrogant (sorry, friends). This is also undeniably true.
Again – this is also absolutely, undeniably true.
Much like my friend Hannah, who writes about introversion often, I spent most of my childhood and growing-up years feeling like I was somehow “wrong” – I liked being alone with books and art supplies, and was teased about it a good deal. I was “weird” and a “book nerd” and called shy and quiet. Yes, I enjoyed reading more than the average kid (and still do), but most often I needed space to sit and to think away from other people. But I tried to be different. I tried to fit in and to contribute more and to pretend that being labeled “different” didn’t hurt. But when you are 11 and 12 and people in your own family make comments about how strange you are, it’s hard to avoid a few bruised feelings.
As an adult, I’ve continued to try to fit in – to do more activities and go to more social events because I felt like I ought to, like that was what “normal” people did.
Last summer I reached a breaking point. I was working full time and then some, and we had regular activities scheduled at least three nights a week, plus all those others that pop up just when you need a night at home. We were constantly on the road on the weekends, to visit family or to attend weddings. I never had time to recover from an event before I was already moving on to the next one.
I wasn’t enjoying life at all, even though these were all good things.
We had moved in May and still hadn’t unpacked all of our boxes. Scott and I could not physically remember when we had last gone on an actual date together. We spent all of our “fun” money on rushed meals at a Culver’s or a Subway before hurtling toward the next place we had to be. We were always moving but never moving forward.
And in August, I broke. It had been a long time coming. I needed to slow down. I couldn’t spend enough time alone to recharge. I couldn’t take enough time after things to figure out how I felt, what I thought. I never knew whether things were working or not because I never got to stop and think about them long enough to decide. I wasn’t allowing my introverted, analyzing, thinking self to do anything introverted, analytic, or introspective.
When I realized that, when I slowed down and let me be me, I felt better. I got angry less often. I didn’t hate my life anymore.
What about you? Do you know you’re personality type? If so, does it help you make decisions so that you enjoy your life more? I’d love to hear other peoples’ experiences.
I’m guessing I’m not the only person who has ever tried to be someone she’s not.
I started writing a post about personality types and how much they fascinate me, and realized that I had several hundred words just on introversion vs. extroversion. And who can resist a post influenced by the Gilmore Girls? The rest of my thoughts on Meyers-Briggs and Enneagrams will follow next week!
Unless you don’t have access to the internet (which I am guessing is not true since you are reading this), you’ve probably heard the chatter regarding Introversion vs Extroversion going around. The biggest misconception I’ve seen regarding these two modes of operation is that one is “better” or “more substantial” than the other. Neither is true: they are just different ways that we humans interact with our environments in order to be our best us.
The best example I can think of how these opposite personality traits and different, but equal, are the Gilmore Girls (I also happen to be re-watching the first season on Netflix now, so there’s that). Lorelai and Rory are undeniable opposites, yet neither of them is a villain because of their personality type (or any reason, really – unless you count dating Logan as a villainous act, because I do – but that is a whole ‘nother blog topic…).
The girls of the Gilmore name operate on entirely different edges of the introvert-extrovert spectrum.
Extroverts get their energy from “elsewhere” – things outside of themselves, usually having to do with other people. This could be a party or dinner out with friends or a networking event where you get to meet new people. Extroverts often talk through their issues with someone else in order to make sense of things. Being around others gives extroverts more energy than they had before. This doesn’t mean that they never like alone time, but that is not their primary source of recharging their batteries.
Lorelai is outgoing, constantly moving, and always needs to be doing something. Planning events and interacting with people at the Inn are where she shines. Parties are her thing. She is constantly interrupting Rory’s studies to see if she wants to go out for pizza or go grab some ice cream… anything but sit and stare at her own textbooks.
Introverts are the opposite. They get their energy from interior places, often through time spent alone. This could mean reading a book, taking a quiet walk, fixing a nice meal… anything that allows them to primarily sort through their own thoughts and feelings as opposed to having to spend energy interacting with other people. They need time and quiet to make their decisions, reflecting internally in order to do what feels right.
Rory is always happiest when reading a book, or studying, or doing anything that involves herself and maybe just one or two other very close friends. She excels at school because she is able to focus this way. And is constantly bargaining with her mother to leave her alone so she can get something done.
Is either way of approaching the world wrong? No. But they each approach the world differently. So do most introverts and extroverts.
I think if we are more aware of how we interact with the world around us, we are better able to live a life that best fits our true self. And we are far more likely to extend grace to someone else when we understand how they operate – especially if it is different from ourselves.