This Is Exactly Why the Infj Mind Runs Rampant
If there’s one thing that every INFJ has in common, it’s their habit of overthinking even the simplest of things. Spending most of their waking hours in their heads, the INFJ can’t help but to think, reflect and ponder on life and all of its lessons.. But what happens when this overthinking tendency causes their mind to run rampant and what causes it?
When They’re in Their Processing Stage of Social Interaction
Whether it’s a simple one-on-one date with someone new or a social gathering that calls on the INFJ’s hidden extroverted nature to come alive.. There’s always an aftermath-period of over analyzing in the following hours and days that takes over the INFJ’s introverted intuition and thinking functions.
In fact, not only will they replay the entire interaction in their heads as best they can in order to analyze other people’s behavior and personality, but they will predominantly focus on how they themselves were interacting.
They’ll analyze the back-and-forth conversation and overall experience by recapping what they said and how it may have been perceived on the other end. They’ll question what type of impression they left on other people, whether or not they overshared or undershared, whether or not they seemed arrogant, disrespectful, cold, or too reclusive.
And if, within their analysis period they find a moment where they may have come across as something other than what they were trying to aim for, especially if they embarrassed someone else by accident, this rumination will become all that much more intense.
When They’re Starting Multiple New Endeavors
When the INFJ steps into a new space in life, whether it’s something they anticipated may happen or not, the INFJ is bound to begin their future-projecting habit. How will I like it? How long will it last? Is this the person or situation for me? Is this a waste of time? Does this fit my overall morals and future goals in life? What are my goals in life?.. You get the drift.
In other words, when the INFJ is in the process of taking on a new venture, their mind can certainly run rampant. However, there’s nothing that throws their mind into a frenzy quite like starting afresh. Whether it’s starting a new job only to simultaneously find a new romantic or platonic connection.
Or moving to a new town where they are pushed to find a new job and new hobbies.. The INFJ has a hard time simply ‘going with the flow’ no matter the lack of control they actually hold over the situation.
They can even end up experiencing a sense of imposter syndrome or an identity crisis due to their inability to predict their potential future outcomes at such a rapid pace. In fact, this overthinking can become so distracting that they hold themselves back from enjoying their new opportunities and applying themselves to their fullest abilities.
Illness Anxiety
Now, let’s start off by saying we’re not claiming that every INFJ had hypochondriac tendencies..however, compared to some other personality type, the INFJ can certainly experience illness-anxiety. Rooted in their extroverted feeling and sensing functions, the INFJ can have a hard time staying in tune with their emotional and physical needs.
They can easily sense these needs of the people around them, even before they can sense them themselves..however, aside from being distant from their own emotional needs, this function can cause a disconnect from their own physical symptoms.
In fact, rooted in their emotional and physical empathy, INFJs can even end up feeling the pain and false symptoms of other people’s illnesses so intensely that they mistake it for their own. While that alone can cause their mind to run rampant, questioning whether or not they have something going on in their own bodies, INFJs also tend to internalize their issues and emotions.
This buried stress can cause symptoms such as headaches, heart palpitations, jaw pain, muscle aches, hair loss, brain fog, and the list goes on.. And with that, to no fault of their own, INFJs can end up intensifying that stress by then worrying about the symptoms they’re experiencing fear that they could be symptoms reflecting a more serious illness.
Intended Isolation
When it comes to the INFJ and their need for down-time, there’s no doubt it remains as an important aspect to their mental, emotional and spiritual health. However, even for this introverted personality type there is such a thing as over-isolation.
In fact, with extroverted sensing as their least-developed but still very important function, INFJs require a certain level of external experiences and social interactions to balance their high-functioning introverted functions. In other words, no matter how much certain INFJs try to avoid extroverted encounters, these are the very experiences that ground them from over-ruminating in their minds.
And when they keep themselves from this much-needed balancing factor, their minds are sent into an introverted intuitive-thinking loop that not only triggers rampant-running thoughts, but also inevitable mental exhaustion. Without new material to analyze and think about, INFJs will pick and prod at themselves, where they’re at in life, and their self-worth in a not-so-healthy way.
When Their Intuition Brings Something New to Their Attention
The subtlest of gut feelings and internal nudges are all it takes to trigger the INFJ’s suspicious overthinking. These small but loud instincts that come from their main introverted intuitive driver are passed off to their introverted thinking that begins sifting through pre-absorbed information in order to make sense of these intuitive hunches.
Whether it’s about a person’s character, a life circumstance that no longer fits their lifestyle, a danger that lies ahead, a choice they have to make or even an internal anxiety about something that hasn’t come to fruition..
The INFJ will use these accurate suspicions as a sign to further investigate the situation. In fact, since they’re so familiar with analyzing their surroundings, their subconscious minds are way ahead of them, giving reason to these intuitive inputs.
Yet, since these intuition-sourced discoveries are difficult to explain, and usually don’t have the factual evidence to back them up they almost always keep them private. While at times they could probably use some input from the right person, they much rather exhaust their hamster-wheel brains to find the right conclusion. Which brings us to our next point..
When They Have a Problem to Solve
INFJs are natural problem-solvers, puzzle piece connectors, and solutionists. With an astounding ability to foresee what may happen in the future and an observantly keen eye for the details other people often overlook, the INFJ type is not only good at solving problems, but they thoroughly enjoy it.
In fact, for this very reason, INFJs make great leaders and bosses as the go-to person within a group setting. The tricky thing is that they’re better at solving other people’s problems on the whim than they are their own. And when they become stuck on finding a solution or a right-way forward, they tend to get caught up in their heads, remaining distracted from their outer experience.
This is when their at-times helpful analytical mind can become a serious pain in the behind..especially when there’s no answer to be found by just circulating their thoughts. Certain issues can only be solved by taking action or discussing it with an outer source.. Two things INFJs avoid at all costs without knowing the potential outcome. And lastly..
Their Innate High-Functioning Anxiety
Whether INFJs like to admit it or not, anxiety is a part of their cognitive makeup. While it doesn’t debilitate all INFJ’s from living a normal life, there are certainly a few people with this personality type that can thank their cognitive functions and habits for the fact that they hold themselves back from certain experiences in life.
For the most part, however, INFJs are able to quiet their anxious thoughts in order to put on a convincing social-front. Deep down inside, every INFJ, especially in their younger years, holds a sense of anxiousness that’s rooted in their perfectionism, self-criticisms, high-achieving goals, avoidance in conflict and their people-pleasing habits.
All of these simple traits that INFJs experience can easily cause their minds to run rampant, sometimes leading to their success and other times, at the detriment of their own well-being. This high-functioning anxiety is what makes the INFJ seem so calm and collected on the outside, as their worry-wart rampant-running mind is kept behind closed doors.