25 Struggles Only INTJs Will Understand: A Response to Thought Catalog, Part II

Hey, everyone.

This is part II of my response to Thought Catalog's "25 Struggles Only INTJs Will Understand." If you haven't read the first part yet, you can find it here. Otherwise, let's get back to the action.

9. When your argument is valid, well researched, and factual, and yet the person you’re presenting it to still won’t accept it because it doesn’t correspond to their precise worldview.

This hasn't happened a lot to me since I don't argue with people because I don't have the patience for it, but it does remind me of people who say they like the Star Wars prequels or even the new ones despite the fact they agree with all the reasons why they're terrible. (And you thought INTJs are contradictory.)
 

10. Always coming up with the perfect comeback three hours after you need it.

I thought everyone suffered from this.
 

11. When you can recognize the value of making decisions quickly and yet your brain refuses to do so until you’ve mentally cycled through absolutely EVERY possible outcome first.

Well, it is always best to take action now rather than sit on it, but, yes, I often like to think things through. Sometimes past the point of taking action.
 

12. When a conversation with someone doesn’t unfold the way you meticulously planned for it to in your mind.

Yeah... This does happen. But again, according to a YouTube video I once saw, a lot of people suffer from this.
 

13. People assuming you’re being antisocial when you’re really just surveying your environment, trying to understand how to best interact with it.

Well, I don't know about the second part, but the first part is true. Generally, I survey the area from a distance because there's nothing else to do. What am I going to do? Survey it from up close? Sort of defeats the purpose of surveying. And it's not like I could actually interact with my environment up close. What sort of madness is that?

 

14. Being deliberate and thoughtful in your approach to building relationships in a world full of people who are careless and flakey in their approach to doing the same.

Hey, have I told you guys about my friend Mary, yet?
 

15. Having a vague, nagging feeling and requiring hours – if not days – to pinpoint what it is and where it’s coming from.

It doesn't usually take days for me, but I am familiar with this phenomenon.
 

16. Being forced to exist in a world where communication is largely subtle and implicit (and therefore wildly ineffective).

I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, I understand that most communication is subtle and implicit, and that's how we are. But on the other hand, it is terribly inefficient.
 

17. On the flip side, having your particular form of subtlety go completely unnoticed by others when you do decide to implement it.

Holy sh*t! Yes!!! It's amazing to me how blind some people can be.
 

18. Constantly developing strange, niche interests that even you don’t completely understand.

I generally understand them, and they're not constantly developing, but I do have a lot of niche interests. I think, anyway. Maybe they're not really niche, just uncommon.
 

19. Constantly being called heartless by others, when in reality you experience deep, complex emotions just like anyone else. You just prefer to wear your logic on your sleeve rather than your heart.

I've never been called heartless, but I have been accused of being emotionless. One of these accusations happened on the playground during lunch when I was in middle school. I laughed at it because 1. I wanted to show I did have emotion, 2. The accusation was laughable (see #1), and 3. I don't know why the hell Lauren F. would care if I showed emotion or not.

Although, being this kind of Heartless would be badass.

 

20. Holding yourself to ridiculously high expectations at all times and therefore feeling the impact of failure much more intensely than others seem to – because you know without a doubt what you’re capable of.

There is something incredibly empowering knowing all my successes lie with me, but it's also extremely depressing to know that all my failures are mine. But at least, it's bad ass to say something like, "I'm the dominant force in my life. All my successes are mine... as are my failures." Holy sh*t. I could slap that on a t-shirt on sell it. (Copyright Bryan C. Laesch 2017)
 

21. Holding the people you care about to similarly high expectations, despite knowing that you can’t control their actions.

Yeah... It's said INTJs think highly only of themselves, but if that were true, we wouldn't hold others to high standards. I just want to think the best I can of everyone, and it's terribly dismaying when I know someone is capable of better, but they revel in being a pezza di merda.

 

22. Being perfectly capable of ‘Relaxing and enjoying life’ – but only after all the items on your to-do list are checked off.

Enh. My to-do list isn't that important to me. Maybe it's because there's too much on it, and I just figure that I'm not going to get everything done, so I just don't worry about it.
 

23. Being idealistic in your ability to perceive optimal outcomes to problems – but realistic in your understanding that nobody’s going to be willing to put in the necessary work to achieve that outcome.

Yeah, man. This is like the whole expectations and standards thing. It's like, we're capable of doing so much more and being so much better, so let's go balls to the wall, rock out with our c*cks out, and blow everyone's mind! But no one wants to do that. They want to scrape by with as little effort as possible. Che triste.
 

24. Becoming inexplicably stuck on small details or seemingly insignificant pieces of information if they do not fit into the system of logic you’ve constructed internally. To others, it looks like fixation. To you, it’s just the unyielding need for everything to remain logically consistent.

I want to say this is true, but I can't think of a specific example from my life where it is or has been.

 

25. The constant desire to give up on the external world altogether and become a hermit – but with the corresponding understanding that as a hermit, you would be unlikely to get anything meaningful done. And so, life as you know it goes on.

Holy sh*t, yes. This is so damn true. Although, being a writer, I don't have the luxury of letting life as I know it go on. If I don't put some serious effort into changing it, I'll be stuck here for the rest of my life. But I'm not going to lie, forsaking this world and it's possessions, temptations, and frustrations looks better and better every year.

Conclusion

So, if you couldn't tell from my comments, these are all true, although some are more accurate than others. Hopefully, if you're an INTJ, this lets you know that you're not alone in your struggles, and for those of you who have INTJs in your lives, hopefully this will give you some insight into their problems. And inform you on how to stop being such an ass! Anyway, that's going to be it from me this time. This week's second article will be about 10 things you shouldn't say to an ENFP and whether or not an INTJ would say those things to an ENFP. Is the mythical romance between the ENFP and INTJ all that's cracked up to be?! Find out later this week. Until then...

Keep writing, my friends.

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