Tuesday, August 5, 2014

My ENFJ Life (aka the reason I started this blog)

Hi folks. 

Photo by Jerry Fryman, retouched by Obsidian Soul.
Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
I heard there are some people who hate the world "folks."  If you are one of those people, I apologize profusely.  I hope you'll overlook my tendency to use the word and decide to stick with me on this journey anyway.

My apology is to be expected, since I'm one of those people who have an ENFJ personality type.  I'll explain what that means in a minute, but for now, just know that, like most ENFJ personalities, I do what I can to smooth things over and make the world a better place, one person at a time.  I usually do this with some inspirational words of wisdom mixed in with a little bit of humor and a whole lot of planning.

Yep, that's an ENFJ thing, too.

Anyway, the reason for this blog....

I've always been interested in personality types, and recently I returned to one of the most fascinating (in my opinion) measurement tools: the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator, or MBPI.  I've taken a LOT of personality tests in my time, and this is the one that seems to "get" me the best.

You can read more about the MBPI at http://www.myersbriggs.org, but in a nutshell, the personality types are based on personality traits psychologist Carl Jung introduced in the 1920s. There are four parts to the MBPI, each with two choices, which leads to 16 different personality preferences.

And mine is definitely ENFJ.

I like this quote from the 16personalities website:

ENFJs are natural-born leaders, full of passion and charisma. Forming around two percent of the population, they are oftentimes our politicians, our coaches and our teachers, reaching out and inspiring others to achieve and to do good in the world. With a natural confidence that begets influence, ENFJs take a great deal of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their community.

Wish you could be me, don't you.  I don't blame you. That's quite the glowing report of an ENFJ's strengths.

But that's only half the story.  We have weaknesses too, and one of those is that we often don't share our "true selves" with others. And we're often too busy helping the rest of the world find their own greatness that we don't spend time working on our own.

So that's the reason for this blog.

Please join me on my journey to discover myself--strengths and weaknesses--as I attempt to open up about the real me and also share my ENFJ tendencies with you. I hope to be brave enough to tackle tougher issues as well as share my unique (and hopefully inspiring) thoughts about a wide variety of things.  I'm a wife, a mother, a writer, a leader, a friend, a champion, and a deeply religious person. I'm eclectic and complicated, and I suspect this blog will be, too.  But hopefully in a good way.

And I'd be especially pleased if this place inspires you to do more or be more. Please feel free to open up about your own struggles or triumphs. It will give me so much joy if this place helps you in any way. (I am an ENFJ, after all.  Altruism should have been my middle name.)  

But please remember that ENFJs bruise easily, so this is not the place for bashing, flaming, or tearing down mine (or anyone's) ideas.  If you can't build people up, then I suggest to go elsewhere.   I hate confrontation, and I have been known to delete comments that break my rules of fair play, so...haters and debaters beware.  Be welcome, be beware.

Okay, folks.  Let the ENFJ-style journey begin.

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new blog, Elissa! I went to the 16Personalities website and found out that I am an ISFJ. Very interesting--thanks so much for sharing the link!

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  2. Thanks for joining me!

    And I'm glad you checked out that site. I find it fascinating...and I especially love the comparison tool (do I can see the similarities and differences between my friends and family and me).

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  3. Fun idea for a blog. I'm going to check out the link now, too. :)

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    1. Thanks! I hope you enjoy the link! The 16personalities website has more practical information, but the myers-briggs site is the original source.

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