Time to get a little personal here =) My entire life I felt misunderstood. I felt like an alien in a world where everyone thought differently than me.
I've always valued honest communication. I do not believe in keeping 'secrets' - for example:
At my local chess club, I was once given the advice not to play my favorite chess openings while playing at the club. The idea being that if I play my favorite chess openings during unrated club games, people would learn my style and find a way to beat me when a tournament comes around.
I explained my philosophy - if I tell people my favorite openings, even if I give them the exact variations that I play, yes, they might beat me in a tournament. And yes, I might lose an important tournament game.
But here's the kicker: I would gain from that experience. I would be challenged at the depth of my preparation, and in the long run, I would learn more from the experience and become a stronger player.
Another trait I have is that I hate small talk, for the most part. I prefer to keep conversations 'real' - throw it out on the line, get into the deep stuff, have a real engaging conversation. If the conversation is conservative, I often lose interest.
Why am I bringing this up? Because, like I said, I felt like an alien.
Until I took a personality test.
I took a personality test that is based on jungian archetypes, according to the theory there are 16 basic personality types.
I answered a few questions, and I was then greeted with my personality type: INTP.
Then I felt like I was having a conversation with someone who could read my mind. The description of INTP was me in a total nutshell. I couldn't believe it. I suddenly felt validated, like my values and habits weren't because I was an alien, or weird, or whatever. They are just the way INTP's are. And the reason I felt like I was so different is because the INTP personality type only comprises about 3% of the population.
I haven't linked the website I took the test on, because I do not want to be accused of spamming. But if you google search for personality types, you'll end up there. And no, I am not a paid shill for a website.
Unfortunately I'm not an expert on the history of MBTI personality types, or know much really about all the details. As far as I know they come from the works of the important Carl Jung. But I can tell you that finding out you are a certain personality type, and that there are many people out there who think just like you, and that you can learn how to deal with your strengths and weaknesses has a real value. At least to me it does, because I'm always analyzing things and looking for the truth.
Thanks for reading, and if you have any experience with this stuff please let me know.
