012: On INFJs, Deflecting Bad Juju + Being A Highly Sensitive Person w/ Jenn Granneman Of Introvert, Dear

I am an emotional sponge.

I walk into a room and can instantly feel whether people are relaxed or tense. I can speak two words to you and feel what’s going on. And you can bet yer bottom dollar that I internalize whatever energy is swirling around me.

For the longest time, I felt like an outsider – and truly weirded out by the fact that things as small as people laying on their car horns in rush-hour traffic would leave me shaken for a good few minutes.

And then I found out that not only was I not alone, but that I could work with what I’ve got – and it was my greatest asset in this world.

If you’ve been reading and listening for a while, it *probably* doesn’t come as a surprise to you that I’m into personality tests, personality indicators, and the psychology behind personality types. I find any chance to learn more about the inner workings of others, and myself, absolutely fascinating.

About 6 years ago, I stumbled upon the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (here’s one you can take forfree!), took the test, and the results completely blew my mind. All this time, when I had been thinking “Oh, I’m so different. Oh I don’t fit in,” berating myself for feeling awkward in certain situations while in others I’d completely own it, or the big understanding gap there seemed to be between myself and certain people, or why I’d get into the same ruts over and over…now EVERYTHING started to make sense.

THEN I read a book that was recommended to me called the Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron. I think I cried when I read it the first time through. Because again, this was so much of who I was – that I was either trying to fight against or was struggling to understand/make others understand – I had just never had words to describe it. Introvert, Dear is the #1 website and community dedicated to introverted personality types AND HSPs. This site is followed by literally hundreds of thousands, the community is SO strong, and it’s a resource that’s really helped me when it comes to not just understanding why I am the way I am, but communicating who I am to others (and understanding THEM better, too).

Introvert Dear is the brainchild of Jenn Granneman, a teacher, writer, introvert expert, and fellow INFJ/HSP. So basically, I knew I had to have her on the podcast (especially since I get asked so often what the heck these acronyms even mean).

Here’s the deal, in a nutshell: Myers Briggs personality types are broken down into four components – introverted vs extroverted, intuitive vs sensing, thinking vs feeling, and perceiving vs judging.

A lot of people will just focus on the introvert/extrovert part of the equation, but Myers Briggs, and Jenn’s site, dissects the fine nuance between each specific combination.)

There’s a big theme in this episode of the number one lesson every introvert (and HSP) needs to learn in order to thrive. Even if you’re not either, take a listen – we’ve all got a little bit of introvert in us, and WAY more of us are HSPs than we realize, we just never talk about it.

At the best, you’ll learn about yourself. At the very least, you’ll definitely learn about someone you care about.

Ready?

WANT JENN. Show Notes: Introvert, Dear Facebook Twitter Pinterest Google+ TumblrTake the personality type test Introvert Dreams coloring book Quiet by Susan Cain The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine AronQuiet Revolution Space2Live Introvertology  Introvert Spring

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