[bern]

Hi guys, I'm finding that I often hop between two extremes of seeing the world as the most amazing, incredibly beautiful and fascinating place and then being absolutely disgusted with the selfish and superficial aspirations of so many people and the environmental degradation and war and poverty and all the rest of that lovely depressing bullshit.

When I'm in a good place and surrounded by great people I am in my "life is hilarious" mode and will accept a lot of things I won't accept in my other mood. Life is so much fun in this mood and everything is interesting and coincidental and beautiful and hilarious. The severity of my mood problems are often played down to barely recognizing it as a problem because I feel so lucky to be healthy and live in the developed world.

However, when things are not so great or a particular event acts as a trigger, I will revert back to the depressed apocalyptic mood.



Some may say this is normal and human etc, but I'm really finding two absolute polar extremes and I feel like a different person at each end of the spectrum. I definitely see some of the "dark side" qualities mentioned in another post like being overly critical.

Does anyone else relate at all?

[obz900]

Hi guys, I'm finding that I often hop between two extremes of seeing the world as the most amazing, incredibly beautiful and fascinating place and then being absolutely disgusted with the selfish and superficial aspirations of so many people and the environmental degradation and war and poverty and all the rest of that lovely depressing bullshit.

When I'm in a good place and surrounded by great people I am in my "life is hilarious" mode and will accept a lot of things I won't accept in my other mood. Life is so much fun in this mood and everything is interesting and coincidental and beautiful and hilarious. The severity of my mood problems are often played down to barely recognizing it as a problem because I feel so lucky to be healthy and live in the developed world.

However, when things are not so great or a particular event acts as a trigger, I will revert back to the depressed apocalyptic mood.

Some may say this is normal and human etc, but I'm really finding two absolute polar extremes and I feel like a different person at each end of the spectrum. I definitely see some of the "dark side" qualities mentioned in another post like being overly critical.

Does anyone else relate at all?

O yeah. I definitely relate. I've been trying to find the right words for this and make a thread but you've done a great job here. There are times when I feel euphoric and at peace with the world and everyone in it, and other times when I become depressed and cynical and it's probably no fun to be around me. I've thought before that it had to have something to do with my depression and anxiety, but I've seen others on here talk about the same thing so maybe it's just an INFP thing?

Lately I've been trying to find a happy medium. It's inevitable that there will be horrible things in life, and you will run into horrible people, but there are also great things to live for. And with the right mindset, life can be a very enjoyable experience I'm glad that I've come to this realization after so long.

[obz900]

Awesome avatar btw

[thehigher]

yea... the people in my life have a great influence on my outlook...

[PinkCynix]

I relate to what you're saying.
However, regardless of who is around me or anyone's inputs, I typically have the "Society is awful and horrific" outlook. About half the therapists I've been to expect me to live a "long and lonely life" because of this. I just laugh.
Sometimes when I take long walks away from everyone I start to realize how beautiful the world is. Thinking about this makes me want to travel.

[obz900]

I relate to what you're saying.
However, regardless of who is around me or anyone's inputs, I typically have the "Society is awful and horrific" outlook. About half the therapists I've been to expect me to live a "long and lonely life" because of this. I just laugh.
Sometimes when I take long walks away from everyone I start to realize how beautiful the world is. Thinking about this makes me want to travel.

I've gotten this from therapists before too. Some people just expect you to be a duck and let everything slide off your back. Not surprising that INFPs make up such a small percent of the population..Traveling sounds like fun though

[sushi]

Sometimes when I take long walks away from everyone I start to realize how beautiful the world is. Thinking about this makes me want to travel.

the best part of my day is walking home and it also made me want to travel. which i'm trying to do now on summer vacations. i can't wait to finish school so i can do some real traveling.

[Coccinellidae]

Oh, yes, it's similar to me.
I don't think there's anything between my good and bad mood, it just is good or bad. And I tend to be extreme to extreme, Sometimes I'm just very,very happy and ready to achieve unattainable goals and kind of thinking about doing impossible and the other times, I'm just too depressive, mad to the world and having these negative thoughts....
It all makes me wonder: who am I?..

[refugee]

Hi guys, I'm finding that I often hop between two extremes of seeing the world as the most amazing, incredibly beautiful and fascinating place and then being absolutely disgusted with the selfish and superficial aspirations of so many people and the environmental degradation and war and poverty and all the rest of that lovely depressing bullshit.

When I'm in a good place and surrounded by great people I am in my "life is hilarious" mode and will accept a lot of things I won't accept in my other mood. Life is so much fun in this mood and everything is interesting and coincidental and beautiful and hilarious. The severity of my mood problems are often played down to barely recognizing it as a problem because I feel so lucky to be healthy and live in the developed world.

However, when things are not so great or a particular event acts as a trigger, I will revert back to the depressed apocalyptic mood.

Some may say this is normal and human etc, but I'm really finding two absolute polar extremes and I feel like a different person at each end of the spectrum. I definitely see some of the "dark side" qualities mentioned in another post like being overly critical.

Does anyone else relate at all?

Holy shit, I was just thinking this same thing before I opened PC this morning...are you telepathic or something?

I can totally relate to this. I think my endless hunger for knowledge and experiences often leads me to unforeseen conclusions. Like it could be a perfect day, but then I'll come across some fact about how life is unfair and my optimism gets crushed. I can go very high and then very low, very quickly. Needless to say, this makes for some painful moments, but then I realize even these moments sooner or later will pass.

[jeff614]

i'm mindful that some things in the world are pretty messed up which keeps me mostly grounded. likewise, i stay mindful that there's just too much out there to wonder at so that all the stupidity doesn't drag me down. maybe the good and bad things in life are there to define themselves by contrast like a checkerboard.