The INFJ's Guide to Finding True Love
INFJs love people. They love being with them. They love forming intimate relationships with them. They love surrendering to the connection between two people when all the distance falls away and they each express themselves openly and without censorship. And they love sharing their endless warmth and sensitivity with their soulmate. As has often been observed, there's no one more loving than an INFJ in love.
Despite being capable of what Isabel Briggs Myers called "a masterpiece of insight into human relations", INFJs generally have problems with romance. They want a soul-deep connection with someone who is invested "all in" with the relationship, and can get frustrated when the other person isn't on the same wavelength as them. They're also quite slow to test the waters, and may let romantic opportunities pass them because they're scared to initiate anything. These traits combine to make casual dating a bit of a struggle. Be honest - how many times have you gotten too intense about things, or wasted too much effort over-thinking someone's intentions or reading more into a situation than was actually there?
If you're despairing that you'll ever find "the one," take heart. You can work with your personality type, not against it, with these tips for letting true love flow.
First, Take Care of Yourself
Falling in love is mesmerizing, romantic and achingly beautiful. It's also disheartening, exposing and downright scary. When are you more likely to see love as an asset and not a liability? When you're feeling comfortable in your own skin.
When you're comfortable, love feels like it can give you much more than it could hurt you. You'll care less about how others perceive you, or whether you're intelligent, attractive or accomplished enough to stand a chance with someone. Instead, you'll be open to trying new things simply for your own personal experience. INFJs are known to be self-sacrificing in their relationships. It's easy for an INFJ to throw their entire being into something or someone, but you need a healthy balance.
So, take care of yourself as much as you can. Be your own person and do the things you enjoy instead of force-fitting yourself to other people's standards. Then, when you find someone who "gets" you, you can be sure that it's the real you they're attracted to, and start building on that solid foundation.
Where You Go Matters
People who gather in the places you enjoy visiting share something in common with you. Since you're looking for a soul bond with someone, and not simply a casual fling, it makes sense to connect with people who share the same interests. But it's also worth stepping out of your comfort zone just enough to meet new people. Perhaps you could join a group, take a class, or accept invitations to hang out with people you may not know very well - these are good ways of widening your social circle. If you're lucky, you'll stumble across a loyal, authentic and intriguing Extravert who'll do all the running in the dating phase, and bring out the best in you. ENTPs and ENFPs are especially compatible since, like you, these types lead with intuition.
If there's a voice in your head pleading with you to stay home and watch Netflix, you may have to silence it. You'll likely have to date multiple people, and go through a series of trial and error, before you find 'the one.' So, engage with life. You never know who you might be about to meet.
Make Your Intentions Clear
A big INFJ problem is that your intentions aren't always clear to others. If you rely on subtle hints and signals to confess your feelings, be sure that the object of your affection will have no idea how you feel. Through no fault of their own, other people simply can't intuit, or mindread, or analyze as deeply as you can. That special smile you reserve only for your significant other? He probably thinks it's trapped gas.
Taking things slowly is good. But if you want to get out of the friend zone, you're going to have to be more obvious, even if it feels shallow. Write everything down first, if that helps to clarify your thoughts. When you've made sense of those bottled emotions, pluck up the courage to talk to your significant other in a way that won't completely overwhelm them.
Opening up can be terrifying, and of course you're exposing yourself to the possibility of rejection. But most INFJs find that the tension of holding things in is harder than the sting of an awkward conversation. Finding out for sure if someone is interested in you is a huge relief and can help you put your relationships on the right path - romantic or platonic. For INFJs, good friendships are not a consolation prize!
Curb The Crazy Idealism
Most INFJs yearn to find their one true relationship with that one special person, and unfortunately that can make you gullible when it comes to the people you love and trust. There's a risk that you'll idealize the relationship and put the other person on a pedestal. This puts the relationship under a lot of pressure. Now that you're looking through rose-tinted glasses, you'll move mountains just to prove that the relationship is all the things you want it to be. If the relationship isn't that great, you'll refuse to see it.
Instead of romanticizing the situation, pay attention to the facts. Just because someone smiles when they see you, doesn't mean that they've fallen for you. And your relationship isn't doomed just because your partner didn't return your text message for two days. It's great that you're idealistic, but whipping up fantasies that don't exist outside your own head can have all sorts of repercussions. Do you really want to be in a relationship with someone who can never live up to your expectations? Or spend the whole relationship glossing over the dark stuff and creating your own blind spots?
The only way to know for sure whether a relationship has potential is to get practical. Have a conversation or fifty before you make any judgments. It's not realistic to expect one person to be perfect, or to give you all the things you need. Try to prioritize your expectations - your must-haves and your nice-to-haves - and use that to keep your wilder fantasies in check.
Final thoughts
Even when writing this guide, I'm aware that some tips will work for you, while others will not. INFJs are so special and hard to peg down, it's difficult to give general advice that's meaningful for everyone. And if each INFJ is unique, how their relationships develop will be unique, too.
The fact is, you can't plan love. There's no one thing you can do, or say, or stop doing or saying, that will give you the perfect result. But you don't have to leave love to fate. If you're absolutely clear about what you want, and open up about those feelings, it will significantly increase the chances you will find love, and be loved more fully in return.
