Ambiversion and the Myers Briggs Personality Types

I never really considered myself an extrovert. I wasn't very outgoing, and I was never really the most social person especially when it came to being around lots of people. I always thought of myself as an introvert because I was more reserved and quiet. I learned more about introversion and extroversion from a youth career camp I attended in the summer of 2014, and learned about the misconceptions surrounding each end of this introversion-extroversion spectrum. People usually think of extroverts as being very social and outgoing - I thought so too, but extroverts just tend to get their energy from their surroundings - their outward environment. Whereas introverts tend to become energized from inward reflection and their own thoughts, and need to recharge by being alone especially after being surrounding by so many people for long periods of time.

I firmly believed I was introvert. I usually gained energy from my own thoughts, from being by myself, and by reflecting on life. Even my Myers Briggs Personality Type was an INTJ - introversion, intuition, thinking, and judgement. I guess you could say my brain never stopped (and it still doesn't) - I was always thinking about the littlest things, about life, about the future, about the possibilities of things, about the book I just finished reading, about my classes, about how fascinating communication or psychology or whatever I was learning about was, etc. I was very detail oriented, methodical, and had a plan for everything. Perhaps that is why INTJs are called "The Architects."

However, now I am not so sure I am as introverted as I used to be. I recently took a Myers Briggs personality assessment from 16personalities.com sometime in July. My result (to my surprise) was ENFP. What? Extrovert, intuition, feeling, percieving? Well, yes of course according to my assessment. Afterwards, I read the description of ENFP and I could really understand it. I am positive and energetic, I can be quite random at times, and I'm quite imaginative. I also read the INTJ description, and I could relate to many of the things said as well - I'm independent, open-minded, and a jack of all trades (I guess). I did notice though that I am not as picky about details as I used to be, I tend to go with the flow more often now, and I am not as strongly INTJ as I was. I also took the assessment again, and INFP was my result. But I would say that I mostly relate to the ENFP and INTJ personalities.

I have to admit that I felt like I didn't belong somewhere when I got these different results. But now I realize that it's perfectly fine to get different results because I'm sure that every person can relate to and has similarities with each personality type, regardless of their dominant personality type(s). The thing is, people change. They mature, learn, evolve, and grow as life happens. I guess my dominant personality of INTJ shifted to ENFP to INFP, and it will probably change again.

Also, I'm neither an introvert or extrovert - I am both. Remember, introversion and extroversion are on a sort of scale with each at the ends, and ambiversion in the middle. I would say I am equally introverted and extroverted, but sometimes I may lean slightly more towards one side depending on my mood, situation, and overall current state. No one is ever exclusively on one end of the scale because of the fact that we are all both introverted and extroverted. These labels can sometimes confine us, but I would say ambiversion does not; it is acknowledged that you are part of both worlds.

I find personality, psychology, and anything similar to these topics to be very interesting. I am always trying to better understand myself, and learn more about who I am. Knowing myself helps me better understand the world around me because I learn more about how I perceive it.

As always thank you for reading!

Yours truly,

Soli