Going through most of my life thinking there was something seriously wrong with me I ambled through misguided relationship, friendship and career choices in order to force myself into a role that was more socially accepted. I ended up making myself very stressed and physically ill as a result.
I finally decided to follow my own intuitions for a change and did a radical 180° turnaround, ditching a destructive relationship, yuppie lifestyle and a lucrative career for years of living on the limits of poverty in order to re-educate myself. During my first year of the degree I was expected to write a personal 5 year plan for my future *shivers*, and part of that plan was the inclusion of a personal assessment and a resume. The personal assessment included a comprehensive MBTI test, administered by my lecturer.
I remember feeling somewhat guilty by answering the questions in favour of replies that were skewed towards more organisational traits, and ended up being typed as INTJ. During the test I was more or less 'meh' about it all because I had been subjected to a similar test years earlier, which consisted of a mere 10 questions that instantly boxed me in as something undesirable to the practice I was working for, despite the fact that I was the highest generator of profits in the whole team of operators. Also, I find it kind of ludicrous that personal assessments are generally based on self-reporting, which leaves everything completely up to the individual to manipulate -- however, as I was curious about the test I tried to answer as honestly as I could, although even that is not going to guarantee lack of bias, dhuh.
When my lecturer explained briefly the results about the generalities of the different types, it piqued my interest. Here was a more in-depth analysis of the results which seemed to strangely correlate with my own traits and value systems.
Of course as soon as I got home I spent the next few weeks perusing every resource on the internet to find more information. I came across a certain *cough* forum and, after much procrastination decided to join. After a few weeks I was left utterly confused and horrified as I couldn't identify with the people there at all. The exception was one member -- I think he was Aspergers, which is probably why I found it easier to interact with him -- no emotional or personal agendas, etc.
After I was given an infraction by a moderator for something completely petty (IMO), I left in a hurry.
I don't know exactly how I ended up here, but I think I was looking at types that were somewhat associated and realised the INTP profile seemed somewhat more appropriate. I searched for an INTP forum and joined up as an experiment. I was welcomed by a group of highly whimsical and creative types whom I instantly felt more comfortable with, and moderation here was more on the passive side, which I thought was a good thing. Also, people here generally don't get personal with each other during discussions, which leaves more room for intellectual pondering and less drama.
All these revelations gradually made me think there really is something to the theory of functions, as there was definite general differences between the two forums, and the way people interacted. Fe vs Fi, Te vs. Ti, etc. For some reason, one group preferred to get personal, and the other didn't. As a general rule. Of course there will always be outliers.
Although it kind of gave me some sort of affirmation that it was okay to be different, and that there were other people very similar to me out there, I was still unsure of my type, and to this day I still have doubts -- but that it ultimately doesn't matter to me in the end as I have found a whole new world of individuals who I can relate to more, despite obvious personal differences.
