A Laid-Back Chat for My Fellow INFJs Hey guys, I just wanted to make a quick article. And you know, this article is really going to be a lot more laid-back. It’s just going to be me talking about some things that are going on in my mind. And it really deals with the craziness that’s going on in the world right now and how we as INFJs deal with these kinds of stressors, with these kinds of things.
It’s Not Just America—It’s Global
And I think that it’s not just the United States where this is going on. It’s going on all over the world. I’ve heard from people all over the world. They’re talking about how things are changing. Things are different. There’s something in the air.
INFJs Sense Things on a Deeper Level
And I want you to know, if you’re an INFJ, it’s normal for you to be able to sense things on a different level.
The Knee-Replacement Analogy: How Different Minds Work
Something that came to my mind—I was reading a book about how different people think. Something that came to mind was how people think in terms of medical procedures.
So this book was talking about that there are people who think about things like medical procedures as very shallow things. So let’s say you have a knee replacement. There are people that think: “My knee hurts. I go to the doctor. The doctor has authority. I trust the doctor. He takes care of it. I get better.” That’s the way they think of that.
Whereas INFJs—we would think of it more in terms of intuition, imagination. So they would think: “I go in, I have a medical procedure. They’re going to cut my knee open. They’re going to saw the bone from the top and bottom. They’re going to remove the knee joint that I’ve had since I was little, since I was born. They’re going to take that away. They’re going to put a metal one in. And how are they going to attach that? And, you know, how long is this going to take?” All these things.
That is the INFJ most of the time.
Now, there may be some of you out there that don’t think of medical procedures like that. Listen, that’s a blessing if you don’t. But our imagination is very good. It’s very powerful.
Tying It Back to What’s Happening in the World
So, when something goes on in the world—I’m going to tie this back in now to what’s going on in the world—when something goes on in the world where there’s a massive change about to take place, an operation of sorts, so things are changing.
And other people may think of it as like, “Well, this is a necessary thing,” or “Whatever we need to do to make things better.”
The INFJ can look back in history. The INFJ can see how things could play out, where there could be a lot of suffering, where there could be some form of war.
The American Revolution Parallel
And I think back to the American Revolution. That is something that happened that was caused by something that we INFJs have seen many times in our lives.
There are the cool kids, the powerful elite, the people who were, you know, the prom king, queen, whoever. Most INFJs are down in the lower group fighting for justice and fairness and truth. And oftentimes that puts you down with the “we’re only one or two percent of the population.” The way we think different puts us down in the lower half or almost a neutral part.
And I’d like to know—if you were in high school, were you a neutral player? I was a neutral player. I was really like hovering in the middle. I could connect down here if I had to. I could connect up here.
And we understand all aspects of society is what I’m trying to say.
Seeing Oppression Patterns
So when we see things happen with, say, oligarchs or powerful people, we start to see how that plays out and that people can be oppressed. Because we, as 1 or 2% of the population with the way we think, have likely seen some kind of oppression.
And whether you think what’s going on in the United States is good or bad, we realize that there’s a surgery going on. There is a big change going on.
And the INFJ can see the details of that surgery, the details of that operation. And we see similarities—say, the American Revolution—when there was a king oppressing the United States, taxing everybody on everything, the Stamp Act, all these things. And people like Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, you know, they’re like, “Enough’s enough. We’re not doing this anymore.”
And then all of the things that took place to make America an independent nation. And we know the pain that had to—people had to die in the Revolutionary War. Tons of people died.
Why It’s Scary Right Now
And it’s just scary what’s going on in the US right now. Because whether you think it’s a good thing—like I said, and it’s a surgery, a knee replacement—or whether you think it’s a bad thing, there is a major surgery going on.
And while some people think of that surgery as just: “A doctor, I trust the authority figure. I go in, I get it done, and I’m well,” people like us think: “What is this going to entail? What is going to take place by the end of this thing? What’s the recovery? What’s the actual process going to be? And then what is the recovery process going to be afterwards?”
And we can see all of these hierarchies forming. We can see people turning against people. And it’s very painful for the INFJ.
It’s Normal to Feel Stressed
And so the final thing I want to leave you with is: it’s perfectly normal for you to feel stressed as an INFJ during this time.
You are able to see deeper. You are able to see all angles of a situation. You just have more logical and emotional ability than the average person. You’re a thinker. So you’re going to see all these possibilities playing out, and other people can’t see these. They’re not worried about it.
So you go to work and everybody’s just fine. They may talk about it a little, but they’re fine. “Everything’s going to be fine.” And then you’re like, “Hey, this could happen. This is likely to happen. This is not good. Things are about to get really weird. Things are about to get crazy.”
It’s normal for you to see that, and it’s normal for these other people not to see it.
The Red Pill Reality
And I think about The Matrix, you know, the main character, Neo, had to decide: “Do I take the red pill or the blue pill? Do I want to see the world the way it is, or do I want to remain in the dream, in this computer simulation in the movie?”
And as INFJs, I think we have already taken the red pill. We were born that way. We have to see the truth. And that hurts. And it’s stressful.
And if you’re feeling that way right now, I think that’s perfectly normal.
A Little Bit of Hope + Stoic Advice
But understand this—and I’ll leave you with a little bit of hope—this nation is made up of “We the People” (the US, if you’re in the US). And there’s a lot of people here. And so I think that things can turn out okay.
There’s things you can do. You can exercise your First Amendment. You can do those kinds of things. You can vote for whatever side you’re for that you think will make things better.
But remember the Stoics and what the Stoics said. The Stoics said: “Concentrate on what you can control and try to let the other stuff fade into the background as much as you can.”
As INFJs, we’re already going to be aware. We can’t help it. But if we try our best to put the things that we can’t control in the background, I’ve found that it will ease the anxiety and it will help you to understand: “You know, I can control this. This is in my power. These other things, I’ve just got to kind of sit back and watch it play out and see how it goes.”
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