I, INTP 3

Part 3
So, OK.  I am INTP: heavy on the I & T, lighter on the N & P.  Now what?
Well, I went out on the Google and found every reference I could to INTP personality type: every article, test result, blog, forum, humor site, whatever.  I copied items into a huge Word document, formatted and cleaned them up (fixing the typos and grammar, of course), printed the whole thing out and put it into a binder.  I read through it again, congratulated myself on a job well done.  Then I gave it to my wife to read, but she has not done so yet.  I don’t blame her - it’s kind of overwhelming in that form.

So I pointed her at the short description at Wikimedia (http://en.labs.wikimedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator/INTP) to get the general sense.  I am trying to type her, figuring she is either a ISTJ or INTJ.  Definitely a some sort of ‘J’, which I think causes the occasional friction.  I wanted her to have a better understanding of my thought patterns, which are needlessly complex and difficult to explain.  Also, to let her know why I sometimes do that counter-intuitive (to her mind) whacked out sh!t that I do.

A couple of caveats: still, in the back of my mind, is the idea rolling around that this ‘typing’ may be only half a step up from Astrology (aha! the suspicious INTP comes out!).  Don’t think that I am rolling in a field of INTP-ness and that a couple of online tests can determine the keys to my ultimate fulfillment.  Also, I need to guard against the INTP Excuse©: copping out on whatever because ‘I don’t think/act/feel in that way.’  Right?  Oh, sorry honey, I didn’t get more chores done, because, well, I was just so tired from putting all my energy into my Introverted Thinking that I didn’t have anything left…  Load of crap.  No excuses.

So, after all that ‘research’, I decided to list some things that I have noticed about me during my frequent introspection jags.  I suspect that many of these are INTP traits, but just not often mentioned (though I saw some hinted at).  Many are most likely just me:

•    Sense of detachment, to the point of never feeling like one ‘belongs’, or that one is an alien or some such
•    Penny wise, pound foolish
•    Easily frustrated by objects that should ‘just work’ but don’t
•    Frustrated by people not acting in their own interests
•    Outwardly composed, with equanimity and self-assurance
•    Internally balanced: good self-esteem but low self-confidence
•    Prefers using the brain to using the back (duh)
•    Excellent mimic, sometimes unconsciously; taking the attributes of the group one is in
•    Hate to lose control (drugs, alcohol, etc)
•    Hates to look like a fool
•    Will not demonstrate a skill or action in public until it is completely mastered
•    Limited ability to ‘see the future’, that is, outcome of events (like human interactions, not like lotto numbers)
•    Is very ‘meh, take it or leave it’ (unless, of course, is a issue of logic)
•    Tweak and practice, over and over again, what I am going to say before I have the nerve to call and make an appointment to get our furnace fixed
•    Sometimes difficulty speaking or writing, because too many words crowd forward at once, or because the absolutely appropriate word won’t come
•    Very easily fall into melancholia (the forums mention this a lot, actually)
•    Upon discovering one is INTP, there is usually a great sense of relief – “OMG, it’s not just me”