Isolation is the key to creativity

So it's the eve of my birthday.

Some years ago - never mind how long - I attended a retreat for Victoria Hospice. The main workshop concerned the Myers-Briggs survey.

The test places you on four continuums: extroverts (E) to introverts (I), sensors (S) to intuitives (N), thinkers (T) to feelers(F), and judgers (J) to perceivers (P). There are sixteen "personalities" based on the combinations of the four letters.

The people doing the presentation were astonished that the nurses, counsellors, and volunteers working at the hospice scored mostly on the introvert "preference". None of us were. Helping the dying requires getting your strength from a quiet place.

Let's be clear here; introversion is not a synonym for shyness; it simply means introverts recharge in solitude, while extroverts recharge in the company of others.

Coming into the present day, it has occurred to me more than once that quarantine and/or self-isolation has to be much tougher on extroverts -- unless they're sheltering in place with those who energize them.

Back when I tested, I scored "strong" preferences on three continuums (continui?), but scored nearly evenly on the feeling/judging spectrum. As a result, when I came across this video, I recognized my two closest matches even before the initials flash on the screen.



See if you can spot yours, if you've taken the test, or guess which one (or two) you might be.