NEITHER EXTROVERTED NOR INTROVERTED. Meet the ENFP Omnivert.
Many ENFPs struggle to determine whether they are extroverts or introverts. Often, these types feel that they somehow manage to be both at the same time. The ENFP Omnivert is not outgoing like the ENFJ, and not withdrawn or reserved like the INFP. Instead, like the INFJ personality type, the ENFP is a middle breed. The ENFP personality type is an introverted extrovert.
Understanding The ENFP Omnivert
What does it mean to be an Omnivert and how is that different from being an ambivert? Firstly, while an ambivert is generally outgoing, the ENFP is more of an observer than an initiator. ENFPs are avid researchers driven by endless curiosity. You love to learn about people and places, but like star anthropologists, you want to blend in rather than stand out. As an ENFP, you prefer not to be the first person to make a move.
To be put on the spot is scary for you. You are not outgoing, you are just a little shy. Like the INFP, you hold beautiful, complex worlds inside of you. You have special gifts, unique thoughts and perspectives, and you don’t share everything you feel with others.
Because of your curiosity, you learn a lot every day. You have so many different experiences and thoughts every day that you need time to yourself in order to process and understand everything. You will find yourself swinging from being very talkative and engaging, to becoming extremely quiet and withdrawn. Often, the ENFP is a person who will dramatically shift between strong introversion and strong extroversion, while the more ambiverted INFJ tends to be relatively stable.
Why The ENFP is an Omnivert
On a cognitive level, while ENFPs are extroverts who first and foremost focus on their immediate environment, learning about the world and understanding events around them, the ENFP is also a perceiving type, associated with a strong sense of identity and individuality. You feel different than other people and as if you are not fully like everyone else. The feeling that you are an outsider can keep you from being able to connect more naturally to other people. An ENFJ may take on any personality necessary to get along with anyone they meet. The ENFP does not like to change themselves to fit in. They may struggle in school and at work because they like to go their own way in life.
You may be an extroverted explorer, but you generally seek novelty and unique or strange situations. You don’t want to go where everyone else is. You are drawn to where nobody else has been. As an ENFP, you prefer to adventure to unknown destinations. The pursuit of the unknown can often cause you to feel cut off from or different to other people. You often feel alone, in the sense that nobody understands what you are doing or where you are headed. You feel that other people are content where they are where you always aim higher.
How Introverted or Extroverted are you, ENFP?
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