[Bastable]

I read once that ENFP's (and INFP's) should express themselves creatively. So I was just wondering if anyone here does that? and if yes how?



Personally, I write a lot of short stories (i'd love to write novels but I don't have the follow-through) because they're easier to finish before I get bored and move on. Also I write in a journal a fair bit, not so much a "my big day..." kind of thing, but more of a rant about topics that I feel strongly about.

So, enough about me, tell me about you!

[starri]

I have that boredom-follow-through issue too.

I also notice my mood determines the quality and not just the mood of the writing, like the words that i can conjure up depend mostly on how i feel at the time of writing.. That was the main reason I didn't study language or literature as a profession, i feared that on the day of the exam or something I would be sick and the writing would be wacky (happened before..)

Most of the times I dig up old stuff I wrote and it amuses me greatly.. (like whoahaha did i write THIS?)

Hmm.. oh yes.. when I am forced to feel something, like in the height of the emotion, i find writing to flow out neatly and spontaneously.. under huge amount of specific types of pressure.. when I am perhaps satiated with the feeling, other times, i stumble to find the right word, and go back and remove stuff and so on..

Do you want to share old writings?

[Bastable]

I have that boredom-follow-through issue too.

Do you have any strategies for handling it?

I also notice my mood determines the quality and not just the mood of the writing, like the words that i can conjure up depend mostly on how i feel at the time of writing.. That was the main reason I didn't study language or literature as a profession, i feared that on the day of the exam or something I would be sick and the writing would be wacky (happened before..)

Most of the times I dig up old stuff I wrote and it amuses me greatly.. (like whoahaha did i write THIS?)

Hmm.. oh yes.. when I am forced to feel something, like in the height of the emotion, i find writing to flow out neatly and spontaneously.. under huge amount of specific types of pressure.. when I am perhaps satiated with the feeling, other times, i stumble to find the right word, and go back and remove stuff and so on..

Oh, i can totally relate. Like when I have written assignments, my mood will have changed several different times during the piece, so the different sections will be slightly different from each other. And since i'm terrible at revising it stays like that, and i generally get bad assignment grades...

Do you want to share old writings?

Hmmm... well i always feel really nervous at showing anything to other people, but if you will i suppose i will

[snail]

I used to write short stories and poems. I was doing art for a while, and probably will again eventually. Right now, I am using music as my primary creative outlet.

I think it is necessary for most NFs, not just the ENFPs and INFPs. My INFJ mother sews, an ENFJ friend makes hand-crafted books. My best friend, and INFJ, is a professional artist who uses his art expressively.

I also think it is beneficial for the introverted SJ types, the ISFJs and the ISTJs. For some, it might take on the form of organized traditional crafting in which color, fabric texture, or minor details are the only truly creative elements, but even being creative in minor ways can have a positive effect on their overall sense of well-being because it is a way to seem productive while also expressing personal aesthetic preferences, exerting creative control over tangible objects. I have found, from my experiences with friends and relatives, that ISTJs usually tend to have a hidden creative side underneath their rigid exteriors, and are usually especially skilled at visual arts if they apply themselves.

[Spooky]

Personally, I write a lot of short stories (i'd love to write novels but I don't have the follow-through) because they're easier to finish before I get bored and move on.

I'm the same way. Actually, I don't read much, but I used to write all the time - allegorical short stories. I haven't done it in a long time though - ever since I started struggling with my INFPness.

[de l'eau salée]

It seems like recently, a lot of my creative juices has been depleted. It's quite depressing, but I know I've been through this phase before, so I'm pretty sure they'll be rejuvenated back into me.

I'm like you, I have extreme trouble focusing on things for too long. I would absolutely love to write a book, but after a while (or a little bit), I seem to lose interest and don't really have any motivation to continue. I like photography a lot because it's not really something that requires as much direct focus, and it's an instant result, so it's nice. I used to draw so much, but recently I've just been thinking and daydreaming, so yeah...

[Dr. Metallic]

I've not known either of my two male ENFP friends to be very creative. I'm not sure whether, in this case, creativity is a gender based thing. Maybe it depends on the type of creativity. I'd imagine females to be more artistically or aesthetically inclined.

[Surreal Breakfast]

Yeah, I'm very cre8ive, and when I'm in my most darkest moments of depression I can still write happy things (like birds flying over the sea, etc....) but I'm likely to write about the beauty of suicide & write things like kill me, put a gun to my head and shoot me dead like my dreams, and then I become so angry I stab the paper with a pen and stop writing. Depression causes me to write the most cynical and darkest of poetry that I write.

I've painted quite alot, I've drawn eversince I can remember, I play music, I write short stories (my reason for not writing long ones is the same as mentioned in above posts, but I hope to someday work with someone who can put my ideas into a book so that I don't have to haha), I write poetry, I've tie-dyed about 5 times and I have a crazy chalk mural I drew on my bedroom wall and my door is covered in chalk drawings

[Closet Extrovert]

I write stories, as well as poems.
I've also got a journal, which I use from time to time.

[KerryLee]

I express myself creatively all over everyone and everything!
If I could regurgitate my very being in one huge crashing wave of creative expression, I'm sure I'd feel miles better....not expressing myself creatively becomes a burden I feel I must unload or it will crush or suffocate me.
Writing is the most gratifying way I can express myself, but then once something is complete, say a play, I need to expand on that expression and produce it, I want to further express through directing it or by collaborating with someone else...constantly altering the piece.
A lot of the poetry I write goes through the same, it is not enough to get it on paper, there's always more..my mind begins to put that poetry to movement or I want to introduce sound, it may simply unfold into a story, or transform into a monolgue piece for an abstract play, or be the springboard for experimental performance art, I may want to film shots that reflect what the poem says and transpose it somehow or weave them together....
I write dramatic passages of my personal mental breakdowns and breakthroughs. A lot of it is hard to read over afterwards because of embarrassment or pain but it is fascinating revisiting, and even perhaps playing with them creatively to express inner demons that others may relate to or just be fascinated by....
Posting on personality cafe is another great way to express myself albeit not very creatively, but the manner in which we arrange and choose words is creative in itself...