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My LIFE as an INFJ

Trish15 Comments

I saw How You’ll Do Everything Based on Your Personality Type by Heidi Priebe for free on the Amazon Kindle site, and I’ve always wanted to know how I’ll do everything.  She’s a writer for Thought Catalog, and I had seen a few of these before on Facebook.  But I couldn’t resist knowing everything about myself all at once, and of course, then sharing my discoveries on this blog.  Check the book out for yourself if you want to know about your own personality type!

Here are some of my favorite INFJ truths:

1|  What Each Personality Type Does at a Party:  Reluctantly holds a counseling session in the bathroom with some drunk girl they don’t know.

(But not “reluctantly” because there’s nothing I want more at a party than to find space for a one-on-one conversation.)

2|  What Each Personality Type is Like as a Friend:  The friend you have to plan a week ahead to see (in order to give them time to mentally prepare for the hangout) but then always end up spending ten plus hours discussing the nature of life, the Universe, and everything with.

(Nothing has ever been more accurate in my entire life.)

3|  Here’s Why You’re Still Single Based on your Personality Type:  I already covered this one in a different blog post!

4|  Here’s the Most Attractive Thing about your Personality Type:  Your Intensity.  There is nothing meek or helpless about you.  You are a highly intelligent, highly perceptive individual who understands others on a deep level.  This gives you the unique ability to connect quickly with new people.  It’s an intense experience for those on the receiving end of it and it makes everything about you seem hella sexy.

(Huh, and here I thought my intensity was what was keeping guys away.  NOT that I would be less intense to please someone else….hmmm.  There’s that “nothing meek or helpless” quality.)

5|  Here’s How to Attract Each Personality Type:  Be one big, walking paradox.  Look them deep in the eyes and tell them that you ‘Need them’ to help figure yourself out.

(ELIZABETH, LOOK!  There’s a REASON I always fall for fictional bad guys with hearts of gold!)   Continue reading →

A Week in Greece #6: Beginning Level II

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This week has been great!  Last Saturday I went to Sounio, which was a much-needed mini-adventure to somewhere new, beautiful, and fun.  It really rejuvenated me and gave me the energy to jump back into life in Athens.

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On Sunday, after church, Argyris and Dina took me to a lunch for a group of church planters. I was not excited about it, because church always drains me. There is so much Greek to listen to and so many introductions and opportunities to forget even the most basic of Greek phrases. But I went to the lunch, and I’m so glad that I did!  There were a bunch of people there that I already knew, which was nice. I got to reconnect with Joy, an American woman who has worked in Athens as a counselor for about four years.  And I met Sarah, a woman from Illinois who married an awesome Greek guy (Leonidas) last year and moved to Greece. She’s 33, and she told me to wait until I’m 33 (like she did) before I get married so that I can take advantage of being single in my 20s.  It was the best thing someone could tell me on Valentine’s Day (which, wonderfully, is not really celebrated much in Greece).  Her husband translated the mini-lecture at the lunch for us, and I like them both so much!  Continue reading →

Workout Week #11

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THIS WEEK’S GOAL:
Walk 10,000+ steps (or workout 20 minutes) at least 5 times.

WorkoutWeek 2.13.16

*GOAL MET*

Workout Notes

 

I’M BACK!  Woo hoo!  I exceeded my goal, and only had to rely on walking 10,000+ steps one day!  Look at all the exclamation points I’m using!

I am so proud of myself.  Partly because I worked out six times this week, but mostly because I worked out consistently…after two weeks of failure.  It would have been the easiest thing in the world to listen to the voices in my head telling me:  You’re not really a person who exercises.  You’re lazy!  Just roll with it!  Give up this stupid idea.

I am okay with two weeks of defeat.  But I am so glad that I didn’t let those weeks derail me entirely.  I’m back, I’m working out, and I’m going to continue to intentionally care about my health!

Food Notes

 

As I’ve noticed several times before, there is such a correlation between healthy actions and healthy eating!  Once I started exercising regularly again, I wanted to pay attention to what I ate.  I cared about counting calories and avoiding overeating.  This shouldn’t be surprising, since I tend to be an all-or-nothing sort of person.  I’m either healthy in everything or not at all.

For the record, here are the foods I eat the most here in Greece:

  • fresh fruit (oranges, bananas, and kiwis mostly)
  • pistachios
  • yogurt and muesli
  • salad and feta cheese
  • avocados
  • cereal
  • turkey and cheese sandwiches
  • hot chocolate
  • white wine

And then on the weekends, or whenever I’m out with friends, I just eat whatever I want without caring about calories.  Social food is free food.  I am still adamant about my belief that food is a gift to be enjoyed, and if my “health” consciousness starts encroaching upon fun times, then something is going wrong in my brain.  Losing weight and gaining strength is not worth being unhappy.

NEXT WEEK’S GOAL:
Workout 20 minutes (or walk 10,000+ steps) at least 5 times this week.

A Week in Greece #5: Level I Ends, Other Things Happen

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I’m done with my Level I Greek class!  YEAH!  I’m going to celebrate this weekend by going to Sounio, which I will talk about in a separate blog post sometime in the next few days.

I need to celebrate the occasion, because on Monday, I’m going back to class to start Level II.  This time I’ll be taking a three-week course for FOUR hours every day.  I’m already exhausted just thinking about it.  But not nearly as much as I could be, because I’m really looking forward to continuing to hang out with Elvira and Emi (and maybe Stewart – he is undecided).  Plus, this week I had a decisive shift toward self-confidence that actually makes me excited to keep learning Greek.  It first happened at the grocery store when I handed the cashier €20 and said, “Oh, I think I have change, just a second.”  When the transaction was finished, I grabbed my bags and walked out the door and suddenly realized: I could have said that in Greek.   Continue reading →

INFJ on Pinterest

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A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about INFJ Complexities based on something I saw on Pinterest.  It turns out that website is a treasure trove of insightful and hilarious INFJ observations.  Here are some of my favorites!

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“Still feels like a mystery despite how much they’ve revealed to you”
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HARD YES.
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Good luck!
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“Believes they are right about everything and will boss you around accordingly”….but hopefully without you noticing.
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Is there another way?
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Byyyyyye.

“Courage, My Heart” – Almost My Tattoo

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In Greek class last week, Elvira noticed my tattoo and said, “I love that line!  It’s from my favorite poem.”

“It’s actually from a children’s book.  What poem are you talking about?”

That night she sent me a link to Hermann Hesse’s Steps (originally in German).  She says it loses something in the translation, but I think this is SUCH a beautiful poem, and I’ve already practiced writing it out in cursive on multiple sheets of paper.  I love its message of hope and endurance and honesty and adventure.  Maybe I’ll put “Courage, my heart” on my other wrist.  No, I won’t, that is a TERRIBLE idea, but I definitely don’t mind if people think my tattoo is referencing this poem.

As every blossom fades
and all youth sinks into old age,
so every life’s design, each flower of wisdom,
attains its prime and cannot last forever.
The heart must submit itself courageously
to life’s call without a hint of grief,
A magic dwells in each beginning,
protecting us, telling us how to live.

High purposed we shall traverse realm on realm,
cleaving to none as to a home,
the world of spirit wishes not to fetter us
but raise us higher, step by step.
Scarce in some safe accustomed sphere of life
have we establish a house, then we grow lax;
only he who is ready to journey forth
can throw old habits off.

Maybe death’s hour too will send us out new-born
towards undreamed-lands,
maybe life’s call to us will never find an end
Courage my heart, take leave and fare thee well.

A Week in Greece #4: One Month Anniversary, Feeling Homesick

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It’s been a month!  I’ve officially stayed in Greece longer than anywhere other than Senegal (this week I passed the Mongolia mark).  I’m happy with this milestone – although I’m missing my homes in the United States, there’s nothing about Greece that I actively dislike.  It’s a really nice place to live.

As always, my life continues to revolve around my Greek class.  I was planning on saying, “Only one more week!” in this post, but on Thursday I talked with Dina and Argyris and we decided I should go ahead and take the Intensive Level II course.  It starts immediately after this one ends, and it will be FOUR hours a day, but for only three weeks.  I’m already exhausted just thinking about it.

However, if I’m going to continue studying Greek, this is definitely the best option.  1)  I will continue to study with Elvira and Emi, and I really like my new friends.  2)  It will be taught by Rosa (my teacher the first two weeks) and she is fantastic.  3)  I used to think I needed a break to let my knowledge settle, but when I gave myself last weekend off, I wound up forgetting a million things.  It’s better, I think, to keep going.  4)  I will be done on March 4, which will be when House Damaris renovations will be winding down and furnishings/planning will be winding up!   Continue reading →

My Desperate Search for Books in Athens

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I mentioned a few days ago that I was struggling with the phase of culture shock where everything unfamiliar feels like a personal attack.  Nowhere did I feel this more strongly than in my search for books written in English.  I love to read, books are my happy place, when I see them my face goes all wistful, etc etc.  But everywhere I went, the titles were maddeningly indecipherable.

Duh, Tricia, you may be thinking.  You’re in Greece.

But you’ve forgotten – I’m incredibly privileged, and I expect everything to be available in my mother language!

Which is, you know, selfish.  But also true.  And anyway, it just felt like a slap to my face every time I saw a book and knew that it’s pages – MY PAGES, MY LOVE – were stories and words and phrases that I would never understand.  Street-side book sellers hosted tables full of familiar covers and unfamiliar titles.  The center where I volunteer had a bookcase full of Greek books; I pulled out the most basic books for children and wilted with my inability to translate more than one sentence.  In a desperate attempt to find normalcy, I returned to Omonia where I had once walked through a bookstore to get to a bathroom.  It was made of several rooms, but I found only two bookshelves with English books.  There was nothing worth reading, and I left really dejected.

I complained about this to Argyris on Sunday, and an hour later he exclaimed, “Oh!  There is a big building at Syntagma, next to the McDonald’s!  Public, it’s orange.  There are many books there.  I’m sure they have some in English.”

“You mean there’s been a bookstore right next to my metro stop, and I’ve ignored it for two weeks??”   Continue reading →

Workout Week #9

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THIS WEEK’S GOAL:  20 minutes at least 5 times this week.

WorkoutWeek 1.31.16

GOAL NOT MET

Workout Notes

wah waaaah

There goes the success streak.  I was doing so well!  And then Thursday and Friday I was gone all day – literally getting back home at 11:30 p.m. – and then….Saturday I just didn’t want to!  And today I didn’t want to!  And….I didn’t want to write this blog post about how much I don’t want to work out.

Food Notes

There is such a correlation between acting healthy and eating healthy.  As my workout ethic deteriorated, so did my willpower to avoid eating chocolate bars.  And as I ate a bunch of junk food, my body felt more and more like a beached whale that is unable to sit up, let alone do jumping jacks and burpees.

NEXT WEEK’S GOAL:  20 minutes at least 5 times this week.

(I will try again!  Tomorrow is another day!!)

A Week in Greece #3: A Greek Play and Exploring on My Own

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Although my mind is still consumed by Greek lessons, I had a bit more of a life this week (for better and for worse).

Last week I felt overwhelmed by all the verbs and vocabulary and grammar that I had to juggle every day in my Greek class.  I also felt overwhelmed by making new friends.  So last weekend, I stayed in my room as much as possible and worked my butt off mastering the Greek we had worked on.  I’m talking 8 hours of Greek on Saturday and another 6 hours on Sunday.  The payoff was worth it – when I returned to class on Monday, I felt like I was swimming through the lessons instead of drowning.  Classes continued, my friendships with Nir and Elvira continued, and I started to really like our teacher Rosa, which is unfortunate because next week we have a new teacher.

I already wrote about the excitement of how we have a location for HD.  The continuation of that is that Anthi took me to see the outside of the building on Thursday night, and it’s nicely secluded with a lot of trees, and there are balconies and…you know, outside of a building stuff.  Eventually I will see the inside and have a stronger opinion.  I’ve also been helping Dina write fundraising updates and letters.  She came to my room Thursday morning and said, “We need $200,000 to fully renovate the house.  God will give us the money!”  Later I told Anthi that I’m just going to kind of borrow Dina’s faith body-of-Christ-style, because I definitely don’t have it.  But, well.  Maybe I do.  Because God came through with providing us the house, so why not the money too?

On Thursday night, I went to Anthi’s house after class.  We had dinner, she took me to see the house, and then we went to Ambelokipi (meaning “grape garden” because there were vineyards in the area before there was city) to meet up with Dina, Francisca, and Natasha to see a play!  It was a three-hour production of Crime and Punishment in Greek.  When the music started and a man slowly walked on stage, lighting a lantern and pouring a glass of water, Anthi leaned over and whispered, “Do you understand what has happened so far?”  She filled me in every ten minutes or so, and I could mostly keep up.  I wondered how much of the exaggerated emotion (there’s nothing quite so strange as listening to gibberish spoken normally SUDDENLY JUMPING TO SHOUTED GIBBERISH) was due to the plot and how much was due to the Greek actors.  When it was over I found out that several of the cast were famous Greek TV actors, and Natasha made Anthi take multiple pictures of her standing with one of the men.   Continue reading →