But, by golly, I can sleep in on Monday. I may not actually sleep (I'm a morning person), but if I wake up, I can just do whatever I feel like until the kids get up. Today, I felt like checking in my Mothering Personality Type. I've had this book sitting here from the library, and I just needed to take the time to do an online Meyers-Briggs test. It's been sitting there for two weeks, waiting for me to take the time to do the test. Well, today is the day.
So it turns out that I'm (still) an INFJ, or for those of you not in the know on those little letters that means I'm:
Introverted (versus Extroverted)
Intuitive (versus Sensing)
Feeling (versus Thinking)
Judging (versus Perceiving)
I took this test last in 2009, and I had mostly the same results, although back then I was a raging introvert, and now I'm a moderate one, and back then it was a toss up between Feeling and Thinking, and now it is strongly Feeling. It's interesting to me to think about how my life focus has been different in the years in between tests, and that in fact my ways of being in the world have changed a small, but perceptible, bit.
Apparently my parenting strengths are:
- Good with one-on-one communication and closeness
- Good emotional support to my kids
- "Profundity", or that I'm drawing out the meaning of life for us all and helping others see deeper truths
- Creativity
And my struggles would be:
- Details, and their ability to overwhelm
- Real life versus an Ideal, and my struggle to be happy with the former
- Giving too much
The book points to strategies to play to your strengths while remembering how to work around your struggles. I can see right away that one way I could do that would be to stop running around trying to have "a place for everything and everything in its place" all the time, and instead sit down on the sofa with one of my children and have a deep conversation with them. I'm also told by this section that I must remember that "although you enjoy other people you need to take time for yourself".
I am also an INFJ with a flop to a T depending on when I take the test. I have largely been dwelling on my weaknesses, which match quite nicely with the ones listed from the book. Thanks for the reminder that I have strengths as well.
ReplyDeleteI've been seriously shorting myself on alone time, and that leads to a rather cranky, short-tempered mom. This weekend, I carved out some much needed time alone, and so far today, I feel more centered. It is only just the start of the week, but it is a decent start.
It's so easy to short the alone time, isn't it? And it's also so easy to focus on our struggles and forget our strengths. I wonder what is the most common Meyers-Briggs type for homeschooling moms?
ReplyDeleteI did the test years ago and it came back INTJ. I didn't know it might vary based on when you took the test. But INTJ seems accurate for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm also guilty of trying to "get something done" instead of going with the moment and enjoying my kids. I'm working on it, though.
Sounds like a really interesting book--I get the best recommendations from you! :-)