It was quite by accident that I discovered your website a few weeks ago with all the wonderful information on introverts. I am an INFP and everything I have learned from your articles so far has freed me from a life time of feeling that I am "defective" and definitely not normal.
From the time I was very young I enjoyed solitary activities or playing with one favorite friend. When I was a little older and learned to read, I wanted to spend much of my free time reading, but my mother, fearing that I was severely antisocial, wouldn't have any of that. She told me there was something wrong with me and if I didn't make some changes and learn to be out with people I would have no life. My father followed her lead, and whenever we were in social situations, family gatherings, school activities, church affairs they both made it a point to push me into some kind of group endeavor that made my body literally cringe.
I grew up thinking there was something intrinsically wrong with me because I was not naturally outgoing, or the life of the party "like everybody else." As an adult, I have tried to fix my defect as best as possible. I have joined groups, I have joined community committees, I have joined the PTA and became the head of the ways and means committee, I have joined organizations related to the work I do, I have always worked in fast-paced, team-oriented, dead-line driven, multi-tasking corporations (the haven of ESTJs) and made myself try to fit in and do what was expected of me. As hard as I have tried, I never fit in. I was the fifth wheel, the one who was not picked for anything, and I definitely have never advanced in the corporate world. Severe physical and emotional stress was the result of many years of trying to be what I was not and trying to fit in where I didn't belong.
I have always known that I am a caring person, a helper, and a sympathetic listener. I pick up feelings and physical sensations from the people around me, and sometimes I realize that the headache I just got is not mine. From the time I was a little girl, I could see through a problem to the solution, but since those qualities were not acknowledged or valued, I learned not to value my instincts, my intuition and my desire to be of help - the very essence of who I am.
Reading the information you provide has helped me to see that I am not defective - I am just fine the way I am and I need to do work that comes naturally to me. I don't have to fix me, I need to find others like me and get heck out of the soul-eating corporations.
I have a questions that I hope you will answer or lead me to where the answer is: What key factors do you look for in an astrological chart that indicate introversion and extroversion?
Warm thanks for your help and for your work.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP WITH OUR RESEARCH ABOUT INTROVERSION IN THE ASTROLOGY CHART, PLEASE SEND YOUR DATE, TIME AND PLACE OF BIRTH TO NANCY AT PARKLANENANCY@HOTMAIL.COM
