Unsurprisingly, they can get stressed out by uncertainty and a lack of organization, and they're the most likely personality type to say they feel really anxious in unpredictable situations. This feeling is especially common among Turbulent Advocates, given their sensitivity to stress.
INFJs are often very aware of other people's emotions and less aware of their own. This can make emotionally stressful times a real challenge for the INFJ, because they aren't programmed to organize and understand their own emotions very well.
INFJs can find everyday life quite stressful as they struggle to cope in a largely non-sensitive extraverted society that doesn't understand them. Here are just eight of the ways INFJ react to an often overstimulating world. INFJs are easily overwhelmed by bright lights, strong smells, scratchy fabric or loud noise.
When INFJs are under a lot of stress, they can fall into the grip of their inferior function, Extraverted Sensing, which makes the INFJ unable to think about their normal visionary ideas, be creative, or help others with their characteristic empathy.
In my experience as an MBTI® practitioner, one of the most common struggles I hear from INFJs is the struggle of being misunderstood. INFJs feel misunderstood in their external environment and even by themselves.
Here are some of the things that make INFJs the angriest:
Rudeness. Having their ideas and insights dismissed or ignored. Lack of empathy.
Advocate (INFJ) Weaknesses. Sensitive to Criticism – Advocates aren't averse to feedback – that is, unless they believe that someone is challenging their most cherished principles or values. When it comes to the issues that are near and dear to them, people with this personality type can become defensive or dismissive.
Healing from trauma and dealing with past pain requires the INFJ to open up to true vulnerability. This means acknowledging the past — good and bad moments — and remaining open to healing and growing from these events.
ENFJ – Being Alone
The ENFJs I spoke with hated being alone; they felt that their lives were emptier and lacking meaning the longer they spent time in isolation. This makes sense considering their dominant function, Extraverted Feeling (Fe), is largely concerned with promoting the happiness and morale of others.
Exercising alone is helpful, and some INFJs find great solace in nature. Other stress busters include light reading, writing in a journal or meditation.
They tend to be gracious and friendly to people, and if they are confident, they may even have a gift for flirting and making eye contact. However, time and time again, INFJs have told me that they get uncomfortably awkward around their crushes.
Intuitive Weirdness
INFJs have an abstract, futuristic approach to the world around them. Rather than seeing things for what they are, they see things for what they “mean.” When forced to focus all their attention outside the intuitive plane, they can come across as stressed, unsteady, or overwhelmed.
In addition to being highly sensitive (sometimes to an extreme degree), many INFJs also struggle with high amounts of anxiety and depression. A lot of INFJs report that they experience a low-key depression running in the background of their lives, even when it appears that everything is going well on the surface.
INFJs keep to themselves.
This can make them hard to get to know, and they are often that one person in the group who's shrouded in mystery. INFJs are also resistant to vulnerability, so even after the conversation is started, the INFJ isn't likely to offer up any meaningful connection right away.
INFJs' only true enemy is themselves, or more specifically, their inner critic. However, some personality types may be difficult for INFJs to get along with including: ESTJs: They are often seen as being too blunt, dominant, and insensitive for INFJs.
INFJs are resistant to vulnerability.
While they see many imperfections in themselves that they must correct, others tend to view them as capable, intelligent, and sometimes flawless individuals. Since INFJs want to keep this act up, they struggle to put down their walls and let others see their imperfections.
They might get angry and defensive, scared of ever letting another person in. It's okay to feel those things, but it's not healthy to stay there long-term. The heartbreak doesn't have to define the rest of your life and your other relationships (I'm currently working on convincing myself of this).
The INFJ personality type may also feel the grip stress if their plans do not work out, or gets disrupted by some other person or an unforeseen situation. These individuals are resistant to change and as such feel emotionally overwhelmed during uncertain times.
They Encourage You and Notice Your Positive Strengths
It's important for them to make someone they love feel appreciated, uplifted, and inspired to embrace what makes them unique. INFJs might do this in a one-on-one conversation, in writing, or even just through the “vibe” they give off.
INFJs are, in many ways, an emotional sponge. Wired to think about feelings, relationships, and what's best for people, we tend to absorb the emotions of others even in the best of times. Unsurprisingly, that can leave us pretty exhausted — and that's true even if the feelings we're picking up are mostly positive ones.
The best matches for INFJs include intuitive types such as INTJ, INFP, and ENFJ. INFJs are the least compatible with sensors, especially ESTJs, ESTPs, and ESFPs. INFJ-INFJ relationships can be emotionally fulfilling yet difficult if both INFJs aren't willing to openly discuss relationship problems.
Introverted Intuition is the strongest and most accessible function of the INFJ. In a way, this is the function they live and breathe. It's not hard for INFJs to tap into Ni because it's the most relied upon part of their psyche.
Ni-dominant types (INTJs and INFJs) often need considerable quiet time to themselves to think and focus. Interruptions, noise, and excessive sensory stimulation will push an INFJ to the edge of their comfort zone.
Because of our passionate need for meaningful connection, we INFJs can get jealous easily when we see other people connecting and having fun. We might compare ourselves to them, or worse yet, when someone close to us has friends of their own, we might pull away, feeling unwanted and pathetic.