[See Above]

When I was young I didn't know of the MBTI so I was just different with no explanation or reason. I used my masking skills to fit in the best I could and made friends but it was never easy. All I knew was I just wanted to be able to relate to others and of course especially girls. This is were I had I had the most problems, I just acted really goofy and put on a "I'm crazy" act around the guys but the girls left me clueless. Years pasted and I slowly grew into my role in society as an INTP and I continue to become more and more comfortable within that role. When I run into old friends and acquaintances from years ago it amazes me how I have evolved but on a personal and intellectual level they have changed so little and I question my reasons for my relationship with them in the first place. As time go's on the more I appreciate who I am and who I have become despite some of the shortcomings and baggage that comes with this INTP thing.

To sum it up my life experience as an INTP started out like many of you a bit uncertain of myself and a longing to relate and to find my place and to be honest there was a time I questioned that day would come. It's different for all of us but there comes a time in our lives when we reach contentment and even take pleasure in being different.



I would be interested in hearing from the the other older INTPs here and if they feel the same or have had a similar experience.

That (bolded) would be me.

I think I must be slightly atypical as an INTP because never, at any point in my life, have I had any difficulty fitting in. The chameleon aspect of my character has always been uber-strong. When I first read the short story, "The Martian" by Ray Bradbury, it felt as though I'd been impaled by a lightning bolt of recognition. I would have felt much better about that "recognition" if things had turned out well for the poor putty-Martian. As it was, I was left with a feeling of dread. I never felt that I had any more control over the process than the Martian did. I do tend to morph into whatever sort of companion-type is best received by the person I am standing next to, with a total absence of volition. For many years I filled the same sort of function within my contentious family. I was the Neutral Zone, the Fair Witness, the United Nations and Tower of Refuge all rolled into one. I do love people. I understand and relate to people. I think I change to better communicate, and to try to help people and learn from people. I think I may be exerting a bit more control over the morphing in my newer friendships. It isn't easy. People need so much. (Life is stressful sometimes.)

I think, to some extent, that is why I am still alone. It gives my "Morphing Martian" feature a rest if I can go home to a quiet solitude.

This feature has made it somewhat difficult to discern my own self. I have come to realize that while, in so many ways, I can seem very complex and even confusing, I am appallingly and profoundly simple. I don't need much more than very basic food, warmth, shelter and the opportunity to learn and understand the world around me. There just doesn't seem to be much to me. I would like to be well-known and loved by one other human being of the opposite sex, but, I am so damn simple (like plain, luke-warm oatmeal) that I'm not completely convinced that I would be worth the time, effort or committment. I mean, how often do you hear someone say, "I'll have the usual, - oatmeal. Plain and lukewarm, please." I have had romantic relationships with a few men. Nothing deep or lasting. I met and got to know an ISFJ male once. It was a singular experience. That was the first time I'd ever begun to feel any need for another person. It didn't work out, but I'd like to have a chance to experience that again. Apparently, there aren't many of them out there, though. Of course, romantic relationships are challenging regardless of type, so, I don't feel any particular disadvantage there.

Over time I have developed my will. I can make myself do anything I set my mind on. I can't seem to come up with much passion for things, though. My response is typically, "Well. That was interesting." Still, my will and my interests do get me sufficiently out and about.

Would I want to be anything other than an INTP? Why? What I want is basic food, warmth, shelter, the opportunity to learn and a loving, enduring, heterosexual relationship. Is there some other type that can guarantee these things? (Not that I have observed!) Furthermore, how could I ever want to be something else if I am already something other than anything I might want to be and never having been anything else, lack the critical mass of data with which to inform any decision for an alternate selection of choice? Change for me is gradual and experimental, not click and pick.

In re-reading, I realize I never mentioned being 'happy' anywhere. Something in me intuits that if I demand happiness, it may be at the expense of someone else in the world, somewhere, who ends up being rather unhappy. For myself, I just aspire to avoid unhappiness, I don't need to be happy.

I am not unhappy. INTP. Good.

[MoltenHorse]

I dislike certain aspects of myself and get really tired of them, just a big blob in the way of a lot of the goodies there seem to be to life for most. And since I'm an INTP I guess I have to answer yes to the question.

Wouldn't say no to better Fe just because I'd maybe get labelled with different MBTI-letters.

[GingerArcher]

I think that the desire of the INTP for more friends is not necessarily a desire to be extroverted but rather dismay that most people are not more interesting to them. When I was younger I tried to be a part of various groups, because you know, that's what I assumed you were meant to do. I didn't really connect well with the others. I think that perhaps I was bored by them and by their lack of ability to converse with me. I wonder if I'm capable of deep meaningful connections a lot. Then my INFJ best friend hits me up side the head. So empirically I know I can find friendship, but I have yet to prove that this is translatable in a romantic context. It is hard finding

food, warmth, shelter, the opportunity to learn and a loving, enduring, heterosexual relationship

.

[Alahric]

I dislike certain aspects of myself and get really tired of them, just a big blob in the way of a lot of the goodies there seem to be to life for most. And since I'm an INTP I guess I have to answer yes to the question.

Wouldn't say no to better Fe just because I'd maybe get labelled with different MBTI-letters.

Let me guess, you just want to be "normal". I used to think that as well, like there was something wrong with me - like I didn't fit in. But that all changed when I found the MBTI, I learned that it's best to let go those expectations. It was a big relief knowing that it was just a part of who I am, and that I wasn't the only one who felt like this. When I look back, it makes sense that I'm an INTP, because it explains everything I did and felt as a child. Just use your Ti, and ask yourself: Who am I?

Embrace it.

[Signify]

Our level of patience may match or even exceed the levels of any other types 'practicing' meditation. We'll just sit with them and raise an eyebrow because to us, it comes natural where they have to 'get into it'.

Explain this to me. I've never formally read a book on meditation but done a bit of reading and tried it once or twice. Since we are natural, why does Ne find the chance so superb to remind us the breakfast we had this morning was freaking delicious?

[626Stitch]

How would someone praise another for being gifted at introversion?

Well introverts can be more capable of concerntrating at individual tasks for long periods of time. This is how skill in most areas is learned.

[MoltenHorse]

I learned that it's best to let go those expectations.

I don't expect to change, but it's a hypothetical question so it gets a hypothetical answer. I don't expect to win the lottery ether but if someone asks me if I wish to win I don't say "no" for that reason.
But it is possible to change people do it constantly, but it's random like the lottery, different experiences, surroundings and people form and change you different ways. You can't decide how you will change but you can push yourself into experiences you think would have a good impact on you.
And it would be stupid to not try to change the parts of you you don't like just because that wouldn't fit under the ways of an INTP.

Being or not being "normal" or "fit in" doesn't bother me, the things I'd want to change are purely things I believe are just a hinder for my own development, experiences, and happiness etc. Some of these attributes fits under INTP some don't.

MBTI helped me as well for a short period of time, feeling I got a stronger "self", but it only helps for a while - or in some aspects. To study a personality type you feel connected to and then fill in your identity-blanks with the personality type can help to some extent, if it fits, it fits, and the fitting parts can keep you secure and in the clouds for a while. But all pieces won't fit, and after a while you have to go beyond the MBTI scale to find the rest of your identity...or keep acting as the personality type you have studied, but that isn't being yourself.
Well this last part was pretty off topic.

[In2itive]

I'm OK with being an INTP. I only wish other people would respect boundaries, privacy, and stop trying to persuade me to do things like karaoke, dancing and those kind of things.

I do wish I were more organized. My organization seems to come and go.

[topix]

although I do get exasperated with their vacuity and pettiness at times.

va·cu·i·ty

   [va-kyoo-i-tee, vuh-] Show IPA
noun, plural va·cu·i·ties. 1. the state of being vacuous or without contents; vacancy; emptiness: the vacuity of the open sea.

2. absence of thought or intelligence; inanity; blankness: a mind of undeniable vacuity.

3. a time or state of dullness, lacking in mental or physical action or productivity: the vacuity of modern existence.

4. an empty space; void: a vacuity in the earth formed by erosion.

5. absence or lack of something specified: a vacuity of feeling.

New word. I like how it rolls off the tongue. Thank you.

[topix]

I want to become more ENTJ, or possibly ENxJ. I have good reasons for this, and plan to do a write-up about it, some time.