New things or safety?

[RubberDucky451]

Do you find yourself being scared of new things and find yourselves sticking to the familiar. Or are you an adventurer and you consistently willing to try anything new.

Personally I'm usually a little anxious about new things, but i usually enjoy them much more then i estimated.

I'll also add a poll for the hell of it. Feel free to vote and post.

 

[Ermine]

I wish there was a middle of the road option in the poll. I like change, but at the same time, I need a familiar foundation. For example, it can take me anywhere from a few weeks to years to make a new friend. I need to accomodate for that. So to be simple, I like change, but need a familiar starting point. I also fear interpersonal change.

 

[Latro]

I've been following day-to-day routines for an absurdly long period of time. I'd like to see change, but I don't tend to see it often.

 

[The Lurker]

I usually enjoy or find myself enjoying new experiences, such as going to new places or trying new activities or foods, but ultimately prefer to be around people that I know well for a sense of 'social safety', for lack of better words.

 

[Toad]

New stuff with old friends!!!

I love doing new stuff. I just don't like interacting with new people.

 

[Citizen X]

I've recently rewired my conservative brain and have been more adventurous. I have tried new things recently and I am liking them, even though it takes some time to convince myself to go ahead and try them. I have started giving serious thought to the idea of just throwing things away and become an expat in some Asian country and live like a fisher for a time, see the world, experience things and further analyze the picture I have of myself. However, I have some responsibilities to take care of first. In any case, I am hoping my life becomes more interesting in the coming years.

I have learned very recently that you should experience everything you are interested in, physical and intellectual. Life's too short, and if I'm going to die anyway, at least I want it doing something I liked.

Like the late George Carlin asked: "Where's your sense of adventure, you pussies?"

 

[cheese]

I agree with Ermine. Interpersonal change is very distressing to me. I am not fond of regression or progression. I would prefer to continually meet new people and regularly leave everyone behind. I'm very restless while being profoundly unmotivated; this is an intensely unfulfilling combination.

I am compelled to try new things. I am not sure if I particularly enjoy it.

I am also greatly attached to the past, which interferes with my desire to excise it.

 

[Artifice Orisit]

I'm very restless while being profoundly unmotivated; this is an intensely unfulfilling combination.

That should be No.1 on the INTP traits list.
Getting all worked up thinking about all the adventures you could have, then realising you've spent the entire afternoon staring at a wall; truly we are the masters of exploring inner space.

That said, I've spent plenty of time in Japan just walking around looking and thinking, I'm not sure if it counts as an adventure since I haven't actually been doing anything, although there was an amazing journey going on inside my head.

Are INTPs too detached from reality to experience it for what it is, does this really matter?

 

[Latro]

That should be No.1 on the INTP traits list.
Getting all worked up thinking about all the adventures you could have, then realising you've spent the entire afternoon staring at a wall; truly we are the masters of exploring inner space.

Well this explains a good chunk of my sorta-depression...

 

[cheese]

That should be No.1 on the INTP traits list.
Getting all worked up thinking about all the adventures you could have, then realising you've spent the entire afternoon staring at a wall; truly we are the masters of exploring inner space.

That said, I've spent plenty of time in Japan just walking around looking and thinking, I'm not sure if it counts as an adventure since I haven't actually been doing anything, although there was an amazing journey going on inside my head.

Lovely. I'm in the right place.

Are INTPs too detached from reality to experience it for what it is, does this really matter?

idk idk idk


Actually - 'experiencing reality for what it is' is a bit of a dodgy idea. When experiencing something we react to it. Sensors who 'live in the moment' and presumably experience reality more 'accurately' than we do react to it physically and reflexively/intinctually. We react mentally, in our heads. I don't think we mistake what is there, necessarily, although too much time inside = less exploratory opportunities outside.

 

[Sapphire Harp]

MU.

In other words... I like what Ermine, Red Toad, and Cheese are responding to this with... I, too, think the poll is confining... a spectrum would have been nice.

It's easiest for us to grow from a place of familiarity to a new place and make that our own... Maybe most times INTPs expand like plants, as opposed to... an animal of some kind - ranging about - it's home wherever it rests. (Flagged for further metaphoric development.)

But, I think the familiar context is very important to keep an INTP going strong... familiar thing, new people... new place with long-time friends, etc...

I don't think it's a habit which should be negatively judged by others... going beyond what you're familiar with and staying there usually ends up either distressing, exhausting, or both. When they need to, an INTP should absolutely meet the challenges... but never feel bad for being having had enough...

It's also strange to me that people living in Western society are pretty much charged with doing and experiencing new things and meeting new people all the time... It's pretty much a luxury our society has created, isn't it? I don't think encountering 'the new' happens nearly at all in older, traditional societies, does it? And go back a few centuries and you wouldn't find a constancy of new things in Western society either, right?

So, because we have both time and opportunity to experience constantly new people, places, and activities - we should pursue them with vigor?

I note that most INTPs seldom have trouble with new ideas... And often pursue those at the drop of a hat... Other people do not very much... Should ideas be grouped together with people, places, activities - or are ideas too different? Of lesser value, or greater?
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[Latro]

It's also strange to me that people living in Western society are pretty much charged with doing and experiencing new things and meeting new people all the time... It's pretty much a luxury our society has created, isn't it? I don't think encountering 'the new' happens nearly at all in older, traditional societies, does it? And go back a few centuries and you wouldn't find a constancy of new things in Western society either, right?

So, because we have both time and opportunity to experience constantly new people, places, and activities - we should pursue them with vigor?

Back then just day-to-day life was difficult. People had to put energy into just staying alive. We don't do a lot of that anymore, especially teenagers.

 

[Beat Mango]

So, because we have both time and opportunity to experience constantly new people, places, and activities - we should pursue them with vigor?

I note that most INTPs seldom have trouble with new ideas... And often pursue those at the drop of a hat... Other people do not very much... Should ideas be grouped together with people, places, activities - or are ideas too different? Of lesser value, or greater?
​

That's interesting, it reminds me of how everyone my age is obsessed with travelling (new people, places and activities). Me, not so much. I've always thought, what can I do over there that I can't do over here? Life is the same wherever you go, but I guess a lot of people need the novelty.

 

[Xel]

I like seeing and learning new things but I always want something familiar to go back to... kind of like a home base of operations. Really though... despite my want to experience alot I end up sitting around at home.

 

[Citizen X]

That should be No.1 on the INTP traits list.
Getting all worked up thinking about all the adventures you could have, then realising you've spent the entire afternoon staring at a wall; truly we are the masters of exploring inner space.

So true.

Last week some people I know and I were going to blast ourselves away at an airsoft field one of these guys knew of. We agreed to meet at a certain point at a certain hour "near the shack". So I got there with some minutes to spare and I didn't see a "shack" but a concrete guard post, so I kept driving until I found the "shack", and all the while I was driving I was marveled at the lunar scenery and thinking how much fun I was about to have firing an M16 replica in such scenery, very surreal, and then I started to think about subtle architectural intervention on the landscape and all the while I had been driving for 15 or 20 minutes not finding a single shack at all, until somebody dropped me an MSN at the cellphone telling me everyone was already at "shack" which actually was the damn CONCRETE guard post.

 

[Citizen X]

That's interesting, it reminds me of how everyone my age is obsessed with travelling (new people, places and activities). Me, not so much. I've always thought, what can I do over there that I can't do over here? Life is the same wherever you go, but I guess a lot of people need the novelty.

Nothing bad with traveling and meeting new people long as it is a self growth schedule, or so I think. My ex used to stress me a lot because she always wanted to meet new people because she had the displaced notion that the more people you know, the happier you are. A very ignorant point of view, I think, because we are born alone and we die alone, only memories remain.

I, on the other hand, like to do new things, meet new people and go to new places because right now I need a change of horizon and I have discovered many things about myself that are helping me out in these otherwise drab times I am going through at the moment.

 

[RubberDucky451]

I wish there was a middle of the road option in the poll. I like change, but at the same time, I need a familiar foundation. For example, it can take me anywhere from a few weeks to years to make a new friend. I need to accomodate for that. So to be simple, I like change, but need a familiar starting point. I also fear interpersonal change.

You're right, i should have created a 3rd option but i didn't want anyone taking the "easy" way out.

 

[Sapphire Harp]

Back then just day-to-day life was difficult. People had to put energy into just staying alive. We don't do a lot of that anymore, especially teenagers.

That goes to say experiencing new things really is a luxury, does it not?

I actually think there's room to argue that it isn't really a luxury, either. I think some of the other types would become extremely depressed living... say, the life of a peasant in the dark ages. Holidays, festivals, fairs, etc... these were the lifeline of novelty that kept these people going.

Most of the INTPs on this forum, however, might be able to handle it better. Of course, the mental starvation and having no new knowledge available would be just as bad... So, in a sense, that really is a luxury, too...

A necessary luxury? Its absence won't cause your demise with the speed that food and water can... but would it eventually end your life, all the same?

In the long run, though... I think even the most repetitive INTP grows sick without new people, places, activities, and the like... new thoughts and ideas cannot sustain one alone. So - I guess for me, the question is how often are you willing to embrace new experiences? Because we can't make the choice to avoid them forever, even if we were given it.
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That's interesting, it reminds me of how everyone my age is obsessed with travelling (new people, places and activities). Me, not so much. I've always thought, what can I do over there that I can't do over here? Life is the same wherever you go, but I guess a lot of people need the novelty.

I wouldn't discount it... looking backing on my life - I found my personal growth went from slow to exponential while I was abroad and the months after it, while I was readjusting back in... Maybe not the sole cause, but an enormous part of it, no doubt...
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