# Outrageous INFP or shy ENFP?



## Haven Rosthorne (Jun 17, 2010)

I usually get a 50-50 score on ENFP or INFP and I'm not really sure which I am. I've looked into the dominant functions, and both ring very clearly to me. Like an INFP, I spend most of my free time thinking about who I am, my place in the world, what my feelings mean and what others feelings may mean. It's a very important thing to me, feelings lol. But like an ENFP who uses Ne I am...well zany. I love to discover and apply...or take things I view and transform them into something usable such as old photographs I took of animals...then turning it into an eye makeup look! (if that even is Ne). I am very much a different angle kind of person...I'm not rebellious...I just think everything can be taken a step further and in a completely different course :tongue:

Now to the comparing myself to other INFPs and ENFPs I know...
Like INFPs...social situations kind of scare me...but it is not necessarily because of the reasons they scare most. I have been around people who have constantly put me down for years and told me I have no social skills (an INTJ who honestly just didn't like how...umm...I guess you could call it intimate and open I was with people...and didn't understand how I wanted people to pour out their emotions to me). My own father who is an INFJ has commented on how over the years my zany nature has faded away and has been replaced my an insecure jumpy nature...afraid to take risks. I'm afraid I may just be a highly insecure E now...because when I was little I definitely talked everyones head off I liked.

Now like ENFPs...I get really sad when I'm not around people...when I have to look at my weaknesses. Unlike most ENFPs though I feel the need to recharge. Not very often of course...but say if I'm around a group of people for a week I need a day to just have some book time :happy:. Because sometimes I just like to have some space. Do ENFPs need space?

Next I guess I just list off some personality traits and things about me to aid.

- I love to think about feelings and what they might mean, and I love to apply these to imaginary characters once I have a theory and see how people feel about these characters.
- I believe I have a lot of friends, but I always fear that they only view me as an aquaintance...so I always refer to them as that when I'm asked on our status...but always feel guilty.
- I am definitely not afraid to explain my emotions to others and I can explain them well if asked. However, I get very irritated when I go to other people for help after I give them tons and they refuse haha :angry:
- I have a new interest almost every day lol...writing today, makeup tomorrow, skin care the next, and maybe outer space for a week or two...and I visit the old ones left behind every once in a while...things come and go easily for me which really irritates some people. But I get SO BORED...so easily... :tongue:
- I am not nervous when speaking in front of a large group of people and I am very good at making people smile...I take a lot of time to research people so I can find specific things that make them smile. However, after all that is said and done and I'm sitting at home...I worry my poor head off that I may have insulted someone...that they were really laughing at me in a bad way etc.
- Ohh...unlike a lot of ENFPs...I am not agressive when it comes to love and am...suddenly unable to talk to someone once I discover I have feelings for them (I can be ugh...very dense about those feelings sometimes :crazy. And...I've never been confessed to that someone has loved me like a lot of ENFPs...I know I'm actually fairly nice looking...maybe it's just the pixie cut though .
- I talk with my hands and eyes majorly...eyebrows raise up and down...I get excited easily.
- I have really scary moodswings. I can be ecstatic one moment and very depressed the next...It's either very high or very low...nothing in between.
- If I don't know anyone in a group of people and they don't interest me...I usually wont talk to them unless they speak first because I'm scared. I'm trying to get better.
- I either dress very theatrically...or very sloppily. 

Sorry it was long, but I was just trying to give as much helpful info as possible...I hope it's helpful at least!


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## SenhorFrio (Apr 29, 2010)

i've faced the same question. in the end i decided INFP. i only seem out going amongst INFP even the shy-er ENFP and a good bit moe outgonig than me.and also the INFP forum is more active and i knida like INFPs better(NO OFFENSE ENFPS I LOVE YOU GUYS TO)


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## Kate7 (Jul 29, 2010)

I would say you are, as you say yourself, an enfp with a bit of a lack of confidence. This is probably quite common as enfp's are VERY sensitive so could probably get their confidence knocked quite easily, especially if they havent been allowed by their parents (quite rightly, I might add) to let their nasty side out. I hope you will find a way to gain confidence in yourself as I LOVE enfp's and their zaniness and huge amount of love. Oh, and yes, enfp's definitely need time alone here and there .. with a book is a typical way of doing this, that way they can introvert whilst still taking in interesting information (so not getting bored ...!). The reason I don't think you are an infp is because you get bored and need to do things a lot whereas infp's can sit around and dream quite happily - also the fact that you are not nervous speaking in front of groups, and your dramatic mood swings (very enfp) and the fact that you talked a lot as a kid ... all this seems quite extraverted ... Does this help?


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## Haven Rosthorne (Jun 17, 2010)

Kate7 said:


> The reason I don't think you are an infp is because you get bored and need to do things a lot whereas infp's can sit around and dream quite happily


 
Ahh...I like my daydreams too, don't get me wrong. It's what I do before I go to bed...and what I do when I don't feel like getting out of bed...and also what I do when someone talking to me loses my interest :crazy:. Mean...yes...but it's true. Daydreaming is a favorite past time of mine because it has no limits as to what I can do . My hero in my daydream is an acrobatic swordwielding man, I will definitely find him.

I think about love constantly...which also makes me a bit more INFP. I'm quite the hopeless romantic haha. The types I've been attracted to have been an ENFJ and an INFJ if that helps with anything?


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## Kate7 (Jul 29, 2010)

Hmmm. It sounds like you dream when you are inactive, which is when you are in bed. This is when most people 'introvert', even extroverts. Also, I know plenty of enfp's who are hopeless romantics. What do your friends think you are? Do you come across as 'far away', or engaged?


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## Haven Rosthorne (Jun 17, 2010)

It's a mix, honestly. An INTP once explained to me that there are steps that a person goes through when meeting me.
1. She's very cold and emotionless...this is usually because I'm afraid to initiate a conversation because I'm afraid they'll hate me. For some reason I think before someone likes you, they hate you. I'm getting over that slowlyl
2. Wow...she's so sweet and innocent! After they talk to me or I gather the courage. Then I feel better :happy:
3. ...Does this child...ever shut up?
4. ...My dear lord, this child has to be the most morbid and perverse person I know!? 
5. Okay, she's just an oddball...who's calm one moment then hyperactive...then calm again? This is the point I find that people are either so interested in my nature that they stick around for the ride...or they scoot away running in fear :crying:

So, engaged when I feel comfortable. When I finally feel okay I tend to get...LOUD. But very very very distant if I feel I have no right to talk. Ugh, I hate that phrase lol...


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## Kate7 (Jul 29, 2010)

Okay, well I'm sorry to say this but I still think you are an enfp as that sounds so like other enfp's I know. It does depend on your confidence level how much you 'let out there' but i just don't think infp's are that zany. They might be in their minds, but not with other people, you know?


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