Who Am I?

I really enjoyed Rebecca's recent post on Florence Finds about star-signs, even though I hardly ever read my horoscope and I don't think I'm particularly superstitious. I think it's more the idea of holding a mirror up to yourself that's appealing. "Oh SCORPIO that's SO me it's spooky! I'm so darkly dramatic and sexy!" Does that sound horribly self-indulgent? That's because it is. Oh go on though, I bet you've done it too.

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I blame being a female for being so prone to forming my sense of self via external influences. That's what makes us ladies more empathetic and lovely when our best friend has just been dumped. It's what makes us look at a picture of Elle MacPherson and want to cry. It's what makes us feel that the purchase of an expensive leather biker jacket is a compulsory step towards self-expression.

Ahem.

Boy or girl, there is something very appealing about getting a better handle on who you are, even if it is all tosh. When you're at a slightly vague point in your life and trying lots of things, it's almost comforting to have somebody put you in a little box and tell you what you're like. It focuses the mind. Why is it so difficult to tell what we are like all by ourselves? Do you know what you're like? It's so hard to tell from inside our own brains.

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I've gone through my life thinking I'm a grumpy old introvert, but actually a lot of the time I'm extremely sociable. I'm highly organised and driven when it comes to some stuff, and terribly lazy and messy in other ways. I can be very precise and calculated in my thinking, but scratch the surface and I'm a big hippy who believes in love and feelings above all. It's confusing. It's exhausting. It's starting to sound like an Alanis Morissette song.

That's why the first time I did the Myers-Briggs Indicator (a similar one here) I LOVED it. The Myers-Briggs test is a Jung-devised personality profiling test, which divides into 16 distinct personality types. It just seemed to get me down to a tee (I'm an INFP: an introverted people person who...er...seeks above all to understand themselves and others). It's genuinely predictive and useful - I first did the test before I changed career, and I can see now I work with the general public how all the stuff about caring, listening and working with other people -which I would have scoffed at 10 years ago- are the areas I've flourished in and really enjoy.

Sam had to do one for work once too, and he is an ENFP, which basically means he is totally bonkers and lovely. And doesn't like washing up. Yet again, no surprises there.

I don't know why this makes me feel better, but it does. 

Have you ever done a personality profiling test? Did they get you right?