We are, very concisely, a walking contradiction.

Our brains are buzzing with thoughts and ideas, but we can’t sort them out in time to say what’s on our minds, so we can sometimes come across as quiet.

We are energized by social activities, but at the same time we quickly become exhausted because the bigger the group, the more people there are for us to read and feel and asses. It’s emotionally tiring.

We crave adventure and spontaneous trips, but our own homes and beds are our favorite places to be.

When we are happy we are very, very happy, but when we are sad we are very, very sad: much like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. And there is no in-between.

We love to try new things, and we love the adrenaline rush they bring, but at the same time change is scary and hard to deal with.

Guidelines are incredibly frustrating due to a need for creative freedom, but at the same time we need the dependability of a schedule, or we will have anxiety while overthinking all of the “what nexts”.

We can’t stand to be told what to do, but we can’t make up our minds by ourselves.

We are self-sufficient, but need companionship.

We love meeting new people and making new friends, but need steady, long-term friends that we know we can rely on.

One of the upsides of being an ENFP is that it’s super easy to love and appreciate ALL the people, whether it’s our oldest and dearest friends, or the sweet lady behind the register in the grocery store.

One of the downsides is that we love people so much that each individual becomes an important part of our lives; it’s written in our DNA to spend time with them, so if they step out, even for a moment, it hurts more than we can understand.

We ENFPs give an all-or-nothing type of love; if we love you we show it, very openly, and shower you with (quite frankly) more affection than you can process. We put our hearts on the line for you. But at the same time, we are incapable of giving nothing. We don’t know how to NOT love. Even the people we detest are still loved by us. This is, at least, true for me.

The spiritual side of an ENFP can be difficult to track. We are easily distracted, which makes having healthy prayer and reading habits incredibly difficult. Settling in for a “sweet hour of prayer” can be next to impossible. But, one thing you can be sure of is that, though our prayers seem distracted, they are sincere. And ENFPs are good at praying multiple times throughout the day, because other individuals cross our minds very often.

We ENFPs also tend to come across as heady, flaky people. This is because we are very creative, we’re constantly buzzing with new ideas and we openly pursue our need for adventure. The flighty, excited half of our personalities come across stronger than the quiet, thoughtful side. This hidden side is the one that spurs on deep thoughts about life, theology, politics, and other equally deep and important subjects. That is the side that comes out during 1am talks, quiet text messages, and spur-of-the-moment soliloquies that happen when we find our souls connecting with that of another individual. These are my favorite moments, by far.

I feel like the truest quote to explain being an ENFP is this line from Ed Sheeran’s Photograph: “Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes, but it’s the only thing that I know.”

We are brightly colored balloons, with steady, somber anchors. We are ENFPs.