ENFPS – Or extroverted, intuitive, feeling perceivers – make up approximately 8% of the population. Though this type isn’t particularly rare to come across, they embody a series of internal contradictions that often leads to a great deal of confusion growing up. As an (arguably) grown-up ENFP, here are a few things I would love to go back in time and tell my younger self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes you have half the attention span and double the mood swings of everyone else you know \u2013 but these are both simply quirks of your personality that you’ll learn to manage with time. It\u2019s also a product of being surrounded by people who perceive the world using an entirely different set of cognitive functions than you do \u2013 once you start meeting likeminded people and working at something you love, your moods will even out and your attention span will magically spring into existence. Funny how that works!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The intense passion that you bring to everything you love is not unique to you. There are millions of people out there who experience the world with all of the depth, intensity and passion that you do. It\u2019s just that very few of them live in your hometown. Don\u2019t worry! You\u2019re not alone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your stubbornness, your restlessness and your tendency toward over-analysis are going to take you further in life than you could ever imagine. There is no sense in trying to tone down who you are. Be the strange, emotional, fiercely independent person that you are and learn from every waking second of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your main function is a perceptive function, which means that in your younger years you\u2019re going to just want to EXPLORE. DISCOVER. ADVENTURE. And you\u2019re never going to want it to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you grow up, your decision-making functions (introverted feeling and extroverted thinking) are going to mature and suddenly you\u2019re going to be this person who is capable of making decisions (I know. What?!). It\u2019s going to be awesome. Until then, just enjoy the chaos. It\u2019s a lot less stressful when you realize it\u2019s not going to last forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are so many other intuitives out there who think along the same lines as you do \u2013 but you\u2019re never going to meet them if you\u2019re spending all your time trying to act like something you\u2019re not to fit in with the sensors. Be your loud, speculative, adventurous self \u2013 that\u2019s precisely how you\u2019re going to attract the people you want to be around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What they really mean is \u201cI<\/em> can\u2019t.\u201d You\u2019re an ENFP. Everything you want in life, you\u2019re going to make sure you get, because you don\u2019t mind going the extra mile. And you\u2019ll be surprised at how under-crowded that extra mile is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you do go to school, you\u2019ll learn more from late-night talks with your classmates than you will in any lecture hall. You learn through doing, through debating, through experiencing and through reflecting. So don\u2019t stress too much about memorizing the textbook \u2013 your ability to think on your feet is going to take you much further than your GPA ever will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You are quick to jump to conclusions about others and it\u2019s going to get you into hot water more than once. Remember that introverted feeling is based on your own experiences \u2013 and those don\u2019t always relate to others\u2019 experiences. Listen a little more, assume a little less. You have infinitely more to learn from other people than you think you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disinterest is your kryptonite. You are 100% guaranteed to be bad at anything you try to do that doesn\u2019t interest you and the easy solution to this is to simply not do it. You CAN make a career out of traveling, out of freelancing; out of whatever passion you happen to be invested in. You\u2019re just going to have to think outside the box to get there \u2013luckily, that is your strong suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 90% of your interests are fleeting \u2013 and that\u2019s okay! It\u2019s good to know a little bit about a lot of things. The 10% of your interests that aren\u2019t fleeting are pervasive as hell \u2013 and you already know what those are. Stay true to your morals, true to your passions, true to your inclinations and true to yourself. You already know who you are. Now it\u2019s just a matter of what you\u2019re going to do about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As an (arguably) grown-up ENFP, here are a few things I would love to go back in time and tell my younger self.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114678431,"featured_media":1184319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"thoughtcatalog_call_to_action":"","tc_post_redirect":"","thoughtcatalog_is_sponsored_content":"0","footnotes":""},"categories":[603198233,603229610],"tags":[],"anchortext":[],"posttemplate":[],"adcampaign":[],"coauthors":[219077519],"class_list":["post-1184317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-self-help","category-wellness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ben-patton-upH4Aib04_o-unsplash.jpg","author_meta":null,"photo_credit":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114678431"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1184317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1184321,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184317\/revisions\/1184321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1184319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1184317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1184317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1184317"},{"taxonomy":"anchortext","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/anchortext?post=1184317"},{"taxonomy":"posttemplate","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posttemplate?post=1184317"},{"taxonomy":"adcampaign","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/adcampaign?post=1184317"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1184317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}7. University is not the only way to get an education, nor is it the sole measure of intelligence.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
8. You don\u2019t know as much about other people as you think you do.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
9. Do more of what you love and less of what you think you should do.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
10. So many things about yourself are going to change but the core things never will.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n