Priebe - The Comprehensive ENFP Survival Guide

To my ESFJ mother for her endless support.

To INFP Hilary, INFJ Heather and ISFP Laura, for the many late night talks about type.

To Thought Catalog, for helping me give ENFPs everywhere a voice.

And to my high school English teacher, who made me take the Myers-Briggs assessment for the very first time.

September 24, 2015

She told me, I truly cannot think of anyone who conveys the wild/restless/passionate ENFP spirit better through their work! and I thought, Oh, I am wild, restless, and passionate, am I? And then I agreed to be a part of this book!

I was first introduced to the Jung Myers Briggs personality typology, back in 2003, when my cousin dropped in from New York to visit me. At the time, my cousin was the Student Body President at Notre Dame University, and already pinned down for future positions by leading companies, such as Citigroup and the CIA. Oh wait; did I just mention the CIA (which is not a company, I know)? Yes, my cousin was in fact invited to become a CIA analyst (I really cant say if he accepted that or not, I just know that he was recruited while at Notre Dame). So, my cousin came over to stay at my condo for a few weeks, and it was during that super fun (but also very contemplative) time we had together, that he introduced the personality test to me. Take it! Its used by all the leading companies on their employees, its legit! he said, then he looked it up for me and made sure I took the most credible one available online, at the time. As it turned out, I was a Champion Idealist (also known as ENFP), which garnered a few moments of silence from my cousin, as he sat there, looking at me weirdly. I really cant tell you why he was looking at me like that, because to this day I am still trying to figure that one out, myself!

I continued to take the same test every year, just to monitor any changes in myself. The percentages in my results would vary every year; nevertheless, I would still be a strong ENFP, every single time! The most recent test I took was from a more modern and updated testing facility, where my test results came back as a full-blown ENFP (none of my points of individuality came back below 47 percent)!

What does it mean to be an ENFP, what does it mean to have an ENFP personality type? To me, when I think of what that means, I think of a person born with wings growing out of her heart and roots growing down into the Earth through her feet! Roots and wings thats an ENFP. We can fly high, but at the same time, we are fiercely grounded in our principles and philosophies that we hold dear in life. Now, Im not saying that every single ENFP is going to share the same philosophy, the same principle, the same virtues; but what Im saying, is that whatever those virtues and principles and philosophies may be you can be sure weve got each our own set of them! Those are our roots. Our wings are the things that nearly drive us to madness, those things that we do which other people would find illogical and maybe even a bit insane! The distance from the Moon to the Earth, is not too far a distance to traverse in behalf of someone we love! Because there is no greater honor than to love and to be loved! So, wed probably promise the Moon (that would be us flapping our wings); but then you can be sure wed do everything in our power to make sure that we do in fact fulfill that exact promise (this would be our roots in action). Yeah, well promise you the Moon but were not going anywhere after we make that promise! We are in fact going to try to steal the Moon for you!

I do believe that there are so many other aspects to an individual other than their personality type, and I dont think that the whole outcome of a person is going to be dictated and pre-formed by their type. I believe that is just one area of our being. But to say that it is a considerable part of our being, would be an understatement. It is a true aspect, not just a considerable one. It may be just one of many aspects; nonetheless; it is a real one.

Heidi thinks I am wild, restless, and passionate am I? Well, wild to me, means to be like the untouched wildflowers out in the unreachable fields; it doesnt mean being touched all over and being found all over the place in nightclubs and passed out on the streets! Wild, to me, means being unmoved by things like betrayal of trust, discouragements, and really being brave enough to choose the experiences that we allow into our lives. The mighty stag is wild and free but not just anyone is going to be accepted into his domain! The magnificent eagle is wild and is free but not just anyone can touch it! So, thats what wild means, to me. And restless I suppose I am restless in the way that there is an ocean that moves within me! Sometimes, it moves so strongly and so powerfully, that it can toss me around a bit! Thats what restless means to me; it doesnt mean not knowing where to go or not knowing what to do! But it is the possession of an internal ocean!

The last thing Heidi said is that I am passionate. What does being passionate mean? Does it mean wanting to hold the world in your hand so that you can bite into it like you would bite into a chunk of chocolate cake? Because if thats what it means, then thats what I am! Does passionate mean you want to walk the streets of the Sun, live there, and say that you are a child of the Sun? Because if thats passion, then I have it! Does passionate mean that its not alright to just say, Im okay, but instead, youve got to feel the need to say, This is what I dreamt last night and maybe even, This is what I dreamt last night, and you were there in my dream, and this is how you felt and I think this is what it means! Is that what passion means? Because if so, then thats me!

How do we not get tired of all the bursting things that we are? We have laughter spilling out of our pores and tears not yet been born that are ready to surface from our eyes and our ears for so many different reasons how can we not be tired? Have you ever asked yourself that? Have you ever stood there (or sat there) and asked yourself, Where did it all begin, and where does it all end? Is there even such a thing as an end? Do endings even exist, are they even real? I suppose we do get tired, maybe more than others do, but then we also fly higher and we run deeper, and in that light, exhaustion can only be a birthing pain of things so beautiful to come!

I know that being an ENFP isnt going to define my future, my person, and my outcome in life; but I also know that being an ENFP is a pretty damn good thing to be, and it is in this light that I joyfully bring this book into your hands, with full hopes that its positive message will be received and understood, as what was intended for it by the author, during its conception. I welcome you into a greater understanding of yourself, of others like you, and even of those who are not like you whom you will better understand as a result of seeing exactly where you are coming from.