Meyers-Briggs questionnaires have been floating around, as have a few little debates about the validity and usefulness of Meyers-Briggs typing.  I tend to think they have some use as a tool for introspection and self-understanding, which has resulted in a certain level of curiosity on my part about the rather dramatic changes in my own "type."  Ten to twenty years ago I was a pretty hardcore ENTJ; these days I seem to have morphed into an INFP.  What gives?

A friend with whom I was discussing this suggested that life experiences tend to alter significantly the way we approach and respond to things.  That seemed like an emminently reasonable possibility, and sent me back to re-do the test as if I were myself twenty years ago.  That effort wasn't entirely successful, since there's a lot I can't remember, but a few sections of the test on which I am sure my answers have changed dramatically really stood out.

I am MUCH more able to express my feelings than I was as a young woman.  I take myself seriously and I don't assume that my priorities match those of anyone else.  I understand that if I want something, it's up to me to go after it.

I don't place nearly the importance that I once did on meeting deadlines, getting places on time, answering the telephone, or "standing by my principles," whatever that means.  Life has demanded far more flexibility and bendability than I could have anticipated even ten years ago.  My hardcore values (Micah 6:8) are immutable, but I have long since given up on the hope that I can achieve even one of them for more than a second or two at a time.   And I have had enough stunning disappointments that I know I can't impose my so-called standards on anyone else either.

I am vastly more inclined to experiment and improvise, have far more ability to anticipate how things will play out (and far less worry about whether they will), and am much more willing to  try new things than I was as that long-ago young woman.  I am no longer interested in following the "tried and true" or checking obessively on how things are progressing. 

In some ways, I am just more detached than I once was -- which doesn't seem to be reflective of an INFP type.  But in others, I am just more accepting of what comes, and far less inclined to make judgments.  (My daughter would probably laugh hysterically if she read that.  But I think that if she gave it some thought, she might see that behind the snap comments is a very real ability to let things go.)

We have about as much ability to control the outcome of our endeavors as a magnolia tree has to keep its blossoms.