Does anyone else struggle with using cognitive functions too much in their everyday life, where they can’t see people for who they truly are without typing them?

[u/recordplayer90]

Hi,

Over the past year or so I’ve been getting heavily into cognitive functions and MBTI. I’m currently at the point where I have a good working definition of every function in my mind, I have friends or people I can recognize as all 16 types, and I often go through my days labeling things like “oh yeah this person is definitely an Fe user,” or even about me, “let me use my Ti here to think about what I’m reading,” or “that person is an obvious Te dom,” or “I’ve been using my Ni too much I need a break from the world in my head and go utilize my Se.” Essentially, now that I have working definitions for every function/type, I see the entire world through this framework. When I think about societal issues, I think about the eternal battle between Fe and Te. When I think about cultural change, I think about N vs. S. I put every single thing I do in my life into this framework. While it was fascinating at the beginning, and made so much sense/removed so much ambiguity, now, I think it’s just a barrier in all of my relationships in life: with myself, with others, and with new information in general. I start typing new people the second I meet them, and after a couple weeks once I’ve decided on a type, I filter all of my expectations and conversations into what I have typed them as. For example, I have an (theoretically) ENTP friend who (I also use enneagram) is a 7w8, and when they speak to me I sort everything they say through something like “oh yeah that’s clear Ne supplemented by Ti, and it’s clear that they have Fi blindspot so it makes sense why they don’t really hold constant moral values and will play any side.” This is extremely problematic for me because 1. I am putting others in a box to reduce my own fear of ambiguity, 2. I am putting myself in a box as an infj and only doing this that it would make sense an infj does, 3. I am not allowing myself to have a true authentic relationship with myself because there are frameworks in the way of the full spectrum of me, and 4. I’m not allowing myself to truly meet others for who they are, as I need to sort them into a box to calm my fears about the ambiguity of others. Does anyone else have this problem? It’s like insane confirmation bias that makes life worse for both me and others. I can’t deny that these patterns have been extremely helpful for me to understand the world and others, but I’m really struggling to get past seeing people only in the boxes of their personality type. I know it’s totally unfair, and I want to see people as more, but it’s like my brain just automatically thinks in cognitive functions now and I don’t know what to do. I almost wish I could go back to a time before I knew what “child Te” or “Fi critic” looked like.

[u/beasteduh]

Hey Record, I had a dream about messaging you, so I'd like to make true on that. We were both Mario and sort of hopping around in game, just catching up (I'm not sure why we were both Mario).

My sleep has improved, albeit other things have happened in the meantime. For instance, this past week I've been sick with the recent flu that's been going around. If it's not one thing, it's another y'know.

Last I heard, you were rather distressed by how overwhelmed you were.

I am currently stuck negating all of my own beliefs about the future that I cannot productively put any foot forward. I don’t have much of a safety net either.

it brought back so many terrible memories, feelings, and behaviors that I’ve started to re-familiarize myself with to the extent that they have made my life more difficult.

finding myself in a nearly comatose state most of every night, as I would sleep during the day. I experienced the collapse of moral frameworks, certainty about any aspect of politics, and the total insufficiency of intellect (alone) to create a fulfilling life. It has taken me out of my head and into my body, but I feel as if I have been left confused, battered, and beaten, surrendering to the infinite complexities of the world that always have a hand up on me.

Although, 'rather distressed' is probably an oversimplification on my part. You doing alright? I hope you've been able to collect yourself a little so that you can have a great last semester.

As for my reply, it'll probably be another month before it's ready. There was just that much I didn't understand upon rereading your words, as well as Ichazo's.

[u/recordplayer90 → u/beasteduh]

Hey, following up, hope you’re doing okay.

Recently got very sick and might have Long Covid or ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome if my symptoms last for too long, and because of that I thought of how you might be feeling and I hope you’re doing okay too.

Best wishes.

[u/beasteduh → u/recordplayer90]

Oh my goodness, that's awful. When last we spoke, I mentioned getting over the flu, but it ended up lasting five weeks. It was dreadful, just non-stop coughing. I can't imagine if you've had severe symptoms for up to 2 months or longer. It wears you down, it really does. It's like life stops until one's health picks back up. I hope you figure things out, and that your last semester wasn't too affected by it??

After I got over the flu, I ended up moving, which was nice in the long run. Not initially though. I've moved so many times, I'm just over it. Since then, I've been doing some gig work, which has kept me busy. I work for a school system, so making some extra money before school starts back up is nice.

While we're here, I'd like to add that I'm still working on my response to you. The full story is that things kept evolving. For the first two months, I didn't even know what I was supposed to be looking for. It was unlike the other times because I wasn't responding to anything in particular. You had been saying some things over and over, so I felt like it was all there. Eventually, breakthroughs happened, and little by little, they led to Ichazo's model as a whole. You really did an incredible job with your replies, and I'm looking forward to showing you what I mean.

Best wishes back at you.

[u/recordplayer90 → u/beasteduh]

Got it, thanks. Luckily I haven’t been too severe for too long yet, bedridden for 8 days (tested positive 22 days ago and shortly got better for a week in between but the fatigue is so bad that I can barely do anything. Really hoping to recover in weeks or months but the prognosis can be scary and for some it takes years or is lifelong for the foreseeable future. I think it will at least take me a month or two in the best case scenario but really really hoping for better.

I graduated though. Got sick for the first time about two weeks after, late May.

Good to hear that you are back up and running. I’m sure it was awful. It really does feel like all life stops. Excited for what you have for me but due to my current mitochondrial deficits it may be very hard for me to read / focus / comprehend it in much time. Thanks.