INTJs and Stress
Coming down sick at the worst possible time has me thinking a lot about my stress levels lately, what with starting the new job and faire season hitting at exactly the same time, I might be a little stressed. I’ve been doing some reading and deep thinking about how I cope with stress and what I should be doing to take care of myself. Because I’m overweight, none of my work clothes fit comfortably, I’m horribly out of shape, and my depression might be sneaking back in. And I can’t keep going on like this, something needs to change. I really need to take better care of myself.
A lot of this is INTJ specific, but each of the sites usually has articles for each of the Myers-Briggs personality types.
Source
Key things listed on that graphic that are stressors for me:
• Disorganized work environment (why I’m always tidying up in camp!)
• Indecision
• Dismissing my logical decisions
• Challenging my competence (I HATE this!)
• Micromanaging
How INTJs React to Stress (INTJ =The Mastermind)
What stresses out an INTJ:
- Being in an environment that doesn’t appreciate their skills, visions, or ideas.
- Not enough alone time. Too much extraverting.
- Too much noise or sensory input.
- Working with those they see as lazy, incompetent, or ignorant.
- Having to pay attention to too many details at once.
- Being in unfamiliar environments.
- Having their well-settled plans disrupted.
- Too much focus on the here-and-now.
- Not being able to use their intuition to envision the future.
When in a state of stress, the INTJ can feel an immense amount of pressure - as if everything is on the line. To an INTJ, this often means the ability to produce something significant is somehow stifled. They may find themselves overwhelmed, and thinking about ideas and options that don’t have a productive end. As stress increases, the INTJ can become argumentative and disagreeable. Social interaction becomes increasingly difficult; and they may become preoccupied with obsessive ideas and plans. They may start to spend a massive amount of time fighting horrible thoughts, and feelings of worthlessness. They will ruminate about their mistakes, inadequacies and weaknesses, and stop progress on a project for fear of failure. In a case of chronic stress, the INTJ may fall into the grip of their inferior function; extraverted sensing. When this happens, they may give into self-destructive indulgences, like over-eating, over-exercising, alcoholism, or buying lots of useless items. They may obsessively clean or re-organize files.
How to help an INTJ experiencing stress:
- Give them space, and time alone to process their thoughts and feelings.
- Reduce sensory stimulation like noise, TV, radio, or bright lights.
- Let them express their thoughts and feelings without judgment. Understand that they may be irrational.
- Don’t give them advice. This will only make them feel worse.
- Give them a break from responsibilities.
- Encourage them to get enough sleep at night.
- Help them lighten their schedule, or cancel unnecessary activities.
- After some time of solitude, encourage them to get a change of scenery by going outdoors.
Why INFJs and INTFs get overstimulated
If we’re in a tranquil atmosphere, a clean house, or if there’s soft music playing, that’s fine. In fact, we REALLY like that. Tranquil surroundings, beautiful places, these are really important to people with inferior Se. Our sensitivity to outside stimuli means that while we’re extremely sensitive in a negative way to unpleasant or loud outside stimuli, we are incredibly affected in a positive way by pleasant outside stimuli.
OMG, this is so true for me. I need to work on keeping the house picked up and maybe play more music that I enjoy (if only to block out the sounds from the neighbors).
In order for an INFJ or an INTJ to truly be “in the zone” and able to function properly they need to be able to block out all other stimulation and get into a relaxed mental state. Then they can form connections and develop insights. It can take a while to truly get into this “zen state” as Dario Nardi describes it. Often, for me, it happens right around the time I’m trying to go to sleep. You can imagine why! Everything’s dark and quiet and I’m able to completely isolate myself with my thoughts. All the sudden my mind is bursting with insights and revelations that never occured to me throughout the day.
Yep, I have that just before bed brain racing thing All. The. Time.
Stress busting techniques for INTJs
Other things that can cause a grip reaction include: not getting enough alone time, being exposed to excess noise, confusion, or having a lack of direction.
Oooooh, something to remember. I need a plan. Too many choices and not knowing what I’m doing or where I’m going do tend to throw me for a loop.
Normally big-picture thinkers with a good sense of direction, the INTJ will suddenly lose their focus and ability to see from their normal global perspective. They may make more factual mistakes and errors. They may become more impulsive and focused on instant gratification. They may struggle with over-eating, over-exercising, obsessive cleaning, heavy drinking, or buying lots of useless items. They give into their sensory function in an unhealthy way, trying to find some kind of indulgence that will make their stress dissipate.
Oh, this all sounds way too familiar.
Ways to get relief from stress:
1 - Get Some Alone Time
2 - Reduce Sensory Stimulation
3 - After some time alone, find a good friend who can simply listen
4 - Just Say “No” To Non-Essential Responsibilities
5 - Sleep
6 - Get Outdoors
7 - Exercise Alone
8 - Try to Solve One Minor Problem
9 - Watch a Movie
10 - Read a Book
11 - Play Music
12 - Reduce Sugar and Caffeine Use
A lot of this is INTJ specific, but each of the sites usually has articles for each of the Myers-Briggs personality types.
Source
Key things listed on that graphic that are stressors for me:
• Disorganized work environment (why I’m always tidying up in camp!)
• Indecision
• Dismissing my logical decisions
• Challenging my competence (I HATE this!)
• Micromanaging
How INTJs React to Stress (INTJ =The Mastermind)
What stresses out an INTJ:
- Being in an environment that doesn’t appreciate their skills, visions, or ideas.
- Not enough alone time. Too much extraverting.
- Too much noise or sensory input.
- Working with those they see as lazy, incompetent, or ignorant.
- Having to pay attention to too many details at once.
- Being in unfamiliar environments.
- Having their well-settled plans disrupted.
- Too much focus on the here-and-now.
- Not being able to use their intuition to envision the future.
When in a state of stress, the INTJ can feel an immense amount of pressure - as if everything is on the line. To an INTJ, this often means the ability to produce something significant is somehow stifled. They may find themselves overwhelmed, and thinking about ideas and options that don’t have a productive end. As stress increases, the INTJ can become argumentative and disagreeable. Social interaction becomes increasingly difficult; and they may become preoccupied with obsessive ideas and plans. They may start to spend a massive amount of time fighting horrible thoughts, and feelings of worthlessness. They will ruminate about their mistakes, inadequacies and weaknesses, and stop progress on a project for fear of failure. In a case of chronic stress, the INTJ may fall into the grip of their inferior function; extraverted sensing. When this happens, they may give into self-destructive indulgences, like over-eating, over-exercising, alcoholism, or buying lots of useless items. They may obsessively clean or re-organize files.
How to help an INTJ experiencing stress:
- Give them space, and time alone to process their thoughts and feelings.
- Reduce sensory stimulation like noise, TV, radio, or bright lights.
- Let them express their thoughts and feelings without judgment. Understand that they may be irrational.
- Don’t give them advice. This will only make them feel worse.
- Give them a break from responsibilities.
- Encourage them to get enough sleep at night.
- Help them lighten their schedule, or cancel unnecessary activities.
- After some time of solitude, encourage them to get a change of scenery by going outdoors.
Why INFJs and INTFs get overstimulated
If we’re in a tranquil atmosphere, a clean house, or if there’s soft music playing, that’s fine. In fact, we REALLY like that. Tranquil surroundings, beautiful places, these are really important to people with inferior Se. Our sensitivity to outside stimuli means that while we’re extremely sensitive in a negative way to unpleasant or loud outside stimuli, we are incredibly affected in a positive way by pleasant outside stimuli.
OMG, this is so true for me. I need to work on keeping the house picked up and maybe play more music that I enjoy (if only to block out the sounds from the neighbors).
In order for an INFJ or an INTJ to truly be “in the zone” and able to function properly they need to be able to block out all other stimulation and get into a relaxed mental state. Then they can form connections and develop insights. It can take a while to truly get into this “zen state” as Dario Nardi describes it. Often, for me, it happens right around the time I’m trying to go to sleep. You can imagine why! Everything’s dark and quiet and I’m able to completely isolate myself with my thoughts. All the sudden my mind is bursting with insights and revelations that never occured to me throughout the day.
Yep, I have that just before bed brain racing thing All. The. Time.
Stress busting techniques for INTJs
Other things that can cause a grip reaction include: not getting enough alone time, being exposed to excess noise, confusion, or having a lack of direction.
Oooooh, something to remember. I need a plan. Too many choices and not knowing what I’m doing or where I’m going do tend to throw me for a loop.
Normally big-picture thinkers with a good sense of direction, the INTJ will suddenly lose their focus and ability to see from their normal global perspective. They may make more factual mistakes and errors. They may become more impulsive and focused on instant gratification. They may struggle with over-eating, over-exercising, obsessive cleaning, heavy drinking, or buying lots of useless items. They give into their sensory function in an unhealthy way, trying to find some kind of indulgence that will make their stress dissipate.
Oh, this all sounds way too familiar.
Ways to get relief from stress:
1 - Get Some Alone Time
2 - Reduce Sensory Stimulation
3 - After some time alone, find a good friend who can simply listen
4 - Just Say “No” To Non-Essential Responsibilities
5 - Sleep
6 - Get Outdoors
7 - Exercise Alone
8 - Try to Solve One Minor Problem
9 - Watch a Movie
10 - Read a Book
11 - Play Music
12 - Reduce Sugar and Caffeine Use