INTJ-A

Type 5

What causes the anxiety: feeling unprepared. Fives spend their whole lives collecting knowledge in order to be prepared for when something that requires all their knowledge eventually happens, so they will finally have the “strength” to face it. Knowledge means power to fives, and this power provides them with comfort in their surroundings.

How it’s approached: devoid of feelings. “How can I fix this problem?” Feelings are split off because not only are they messy, but they would make the problem worse, which would cause type 5 to be ten times more anxious than usual. The anxiety turns into a concept, and type fives step outside of themselves to overcome it, as if they were dealing with someone else’s problem. Feeling overwhelmed by the outside world leads fives to retreat into their minds to objectively analyze the situation, and as a result, they disengage from the actual experience. 

The stem fear of this Enneagram type is feeling uncomfortable in their environment, which is why type fives surround themselves in solitude and refrain asking for help from others. This leads to a minimalist lifestyle, which is exactly what type fives crave. They think, “if I ask for nothing from you, then you should ask for nothing from me.” They often feel smothered by the needs they’ve been meaning to attend to, which they have either been procrastinating on or completely ignoring. 

Type 7

What causes the anxiety: feeling deprived and trapped. Being stuck in place means you can’t run, and you have to face what you’re running from. Sevens are constantly creating distractions from themselves to avoid the fact that they feel they can’t depend on anyone. This feeling is often too overwhelming for them to face, and upon facing it, they may feel they can’t ever find what they truly want in life. 

How it’s approached: when they finally realize there aren’t any ways out, they try dealing with the problem in a positive manner, and continue to plan what they’ll do next. “When this is over, I can go here and do this and then do that.” Sevens try everything out to distract themselves from their anxiety, because even if they are unable to find the perfect distraction, they enjoyed themselves in the process of avoiding it, and will have all these experiences they’ve tried in the process to try again when they feel like. 

Sevens’ core fear is being limited, and they are seen as the type who always wants to go on adventures, always runs from their problems, and is always up for anything. This behavior stems from the fear they reserve inside that they are unable to make the right decisions that will benefit themselves and others, leading them to becoming easily dissatisfied with their current situations. 

-5′s anxiety is caused by fear of being overpowered by their environment -7′s anxiety is caused by fear of being too limited all on their own

-being in the loop doesn’t change your Enneagram type. It might bring you further down your health levels, but your type does not change. 

-being stuck in your inferior function grip does not change your Enneagram type. 

-there are clusters of an MBTI type that stick to an Enneagram type. ExFJs are usually type 2, ESTJs type 3, INFJ-ISFP-INFP type 4, INTx-ISTP type 5, ISxJ type 6, ExxP type 7, ExTJ type 8, and INxP type 9. Here’s a chart. 

-stereotypical MBTI behaviors may not apply to you because of your Enneagram type.

-Enneagram integration is a very difficult thing for an individual to achieve, and most people have never/will never achieve it. Disintegration, on the other hand, is not uncommon.

-two completely different MBTI types might seem similar because they share an Enneagram type. Example: ESFP and ESTJ type 8s. 

Being perceived as not feminine enough. The fact that we often choose facts and logic over our emotions means that we do not fit into the traditional feminine stereotype of being emotional. Even though emotion is something humans experience regardless of gender, people will still think of us as “unfeminine.”

Being labelled as “bossy” and “bitchy,” when a guy with the same characteristics would most likely be celebrated.

People constantly doubt your ability to be objective.

Not being interested in conventionally “feminine” things, even though women have widely different interests and things do not actually possess gender.

Getting told to tone down our ambitions, because it might “scare men off.” (Despite the fact that there are many men who don’t actually give a crap.)

When we actually know a lot about a certain topic, people can undermine our intelligence because of our gender. We might know more about something than a male counterpart, but others will still doubt our competence.

I am speaking about these issues because they are things that I experience in my everyday life. Of course, us xNTJ girls live all over the world, and there are societies which are more sexist than others; our experiences can vary depending on where we live.

This post is not meant to promote my political views. It is simply meant to highlight some of the problems that girls who are similar to me might face.

INTJ: quietly kills your problem

INTP: systematically determines the problem is your fault but sends you cat memes to cheer you up

ENTP: systematically determines the problem is your fault and tells you as much

Instagram: @artwoonz

“… So I’m busking, right, I’m on the train playing my violin, and people are paying me… to stop. I’m horrible with the violin.”

“Be willing to listen to the other side.”

“Do you ever just forget to eat? I reviewed for today’s lesson almost all day yesterday and played this morality game with my son, and then at night, I was like oh- I haven’t eaten anything today.”

“Sometimes, we need to have the courage to change our habits.”

“Once when I was a kid, my mom was making me go to church, and we never really went to church, and I really didn’t wanna go cause I knew I’d be bored. Plus, I wasn’t really sure about my beliefs on this ‘God’ guy, so I went around asking my friends the next day if they wanted to sleep over and go to church with me and my mom. I lured them with banana pancakes and video games, but none of them wanted to come with me.” 

“Dude, where’s my car?”

Can an Fi user value harmony and the happiness of others? Yes. Will they act in a way that is similar to that which is often superficially attributed to Fe users only? Yes. Will they act like an actual Fe user or think like one? No. If they did then they’d just be an Fe user.

The fundamental difference between Fi and Fe is the same as the one between Ti and Te, except with morals rather than logic. As someone who has really no Fe I understand it best through an analogy to Te:

Te users want logic to be based on information that is externally accessible (behind a paywall is fine, only in someone’s head is not) and they want things to reach external metrics like completion with a certain amount of time or under a certain budget, meeting certain regulations, etc.

Fe users want morals and how others interact with people to be based on information that is accessible and they want these actions to meet external metrics like a particular agreed upon moral code for the group in question.

Now, to compare Fe and Fi:

If you’ve ever seen that post which is like “That boy you just made fun of for crying? His father is dying.”:

That post is, in my mind, appealing to an Fi approach to morality. “That person might have things going on you don’t understand, and applying the standard ‘don’t cry’ which you might apply to yourself is not appropriate or universal to this situation.”

The response to that post a lot of people have had appeals to Fe approaches to morality, namely “Actually don’t make fun of people for crying ever, it’s not how you should behave.”

This doesn’t mean that all Fi users will be okay with making fun of someone for crying, nor that all Fe users won’t be okay. I personally agree with the Fe logic here…but that’s because my Fi morality says “don’t make fun of people for crying, I don’t believe there is anything wrong with crying.” However, it does mean that Fi users fundamentally think of how they treat people on an individualistic basis that often relates back to the self in some way. It’s a personal ‘moral-logic’ so to speak. Fe users think about how they treat people more as part of humanity, and whether that behavior meets a certain standard.

Therefore you can be an Fi user who thinks that promoting group harmony and caring for others is an important thing to do, but you won’t be an Fe user.

Peaceful Landscape Photography by Davide Sasso