So as you may know, over the last couple of months, I’ve been adapting to a new workplace.
It’s been a lot of fun, and I absolutely love it so far. It’s been pretty clear, though, that I’m not the only new person to the team, and as part of an effort to help everyone learn how to work together better, it was decided that we’d share our Myers-Briggs personality types.
I thought it was a really neat idea, and it isn’t something I’ve ever seen in an office before. But there was just one problem: I’d never taken a personality test before, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.
It didn’t take me too long to complete, although there were a few questions that made me hesitate over whether I was putting the right answer or the real answer. When all was said and done, though, I had a happy little collection of four letters that described my entire being to a T: INFP, the Mediator personality.
I think I learned a thing or two about myself from it—so I just wanted to share it with you guys, too!
Here’s what I learned:
Fantasy worlds in particular fascinate Mediators.
I don’t know, guys. Am I really the type of person to be fascinated by fantasy worlds?
I mean, it’s not like I’ve ever daydreamed about getting a Hogwarts letter for my 11th birthday, or drifted away on thoughts of what fantastical places I’d visit if they really existed. That’s definitely never happened.
I did think it was interesting that this was one of the biggest overall hallmarks of the Mediator type; it’s right on the first page. It was also interesting that the results explained why this happens; apparently, I tend to speak easily in metaphors and parables.
Which actually makes total sense if you look at the structure of my blog, which is almost entirely comprised of both of those things.
William Shakespeare and J.R.R. Tolkien are both Mediators, too.
Okay, I could be wrong about this, but I’m pretty sure this stuff didn’t exist when either of those two literary legends were alive.
Presumably, the test would have been taken on their behalf based on what other people knew about them, so there’s no real way to know whether it’s true or not.
But as someone obsessed with both of them, and as someone who does an awful lot of writing herself, I thought it was pretty cool.
There were, of course, other folks listed as having the same personality type—like Johnny Depp and Lisa Kudrow—but I personally wasn’t as excited about that. The only good one that I saw was my relatively soft-spoken web designer coworker, who apparently has the same personality type as Beyonce.
Mediators are the most likely personality type to need at least half an hour to really wake up.
Welp. As I sit here, working on my third coffee of the day, I realize that I can’t really argue with that one.
Waking up has never been my forté. When I was home for six months, I’d get up every morning at 6 a.m. with Shane because he still had to get up for work. But even with coffee, it was a rare day indeed that my brain would really wake up before 11 a.m.
Which made volunteering to spend time with kindergartners at 9 a.m. really fun.
Mediators tend to neglect day-to-day things when they get caught up in an idea.
When I read this one, I didn’t even try to mentally refute it. It’s pretty much the essential definition of my life.
I think I even wrote about it once, how hard it is to adult when all you want to do is game.
Mediators are difficult to get to know.
This one was definitely an interesting point for me. As it explains, this is typically because they’re private, reserved, and self-conscious.
I mean, personally, I know it’s really true. I can be kind of cold in person (I’ve perfected resting bitch face), I am notoriously self-conscious (I always think about silly things like how I’m standing because a chiropractor nitpicked my posture once), and I am terrible at initiating conversation.
It’s a little ironic for someone who puts a rather large amount of her personal life out there both here and on social media, but there you have it.
They’re hugely introverted.
I’ve always known I was an introvert. In high school, I’d be the quiet kid sitting in the corner. In university, I was the quiet kid hiding in her dorm room. And as an adult, I tend to find ways out of social commitments because I just can’t.
I do typically enjoy human interaction, but for me, it’s hugely exhausting. After a particularly large encounter, like a party or something, I usually have to recharge for at least a day before I can put myself out there again.
It’s kind of interesting, but in a way, I think that’s probably why I got so hooked on video games and geeky things. They’re like good friends; they give me a little bit of humanity outside of myself, and never get mad at me when I disappear for a while.
So there are some of the interesting things I learned about myself! What’s your personality type?
