If you think of sadness, is it an emotion you embrace? Or do you usually try and avoid experiencing this negative emotion? If you said you embrace sadness, you might just be an INFP personality type! INFPs gravitate toward sad things and thrive off strong emotions. But why?
INFPs like sad things because they are comfortable around powerful emotions. They often use strong emotions to make sense of the world or relate to things and others. So, when INFPs feel sadness, it may bring them a sense of comfort that isn’t often experienced in other personalities.
Are you an INFP that feels drawn to sad things as if you were a magnet being pulled in by force? Or, do you know an INFP who spends most of their time watching sad movies and listening to sad songs on repeat? Then you’re in the right place! This article explains why INFPs like sad things and how they react to these negative emotions.
Why Are INFPs Drawn To Sad Things?
INFPs are naturally more emotional than other personality types. However, that doesn’t mean they’re unable to keep their emotions under control. Instead, INFPs are highly in-tune with their emotions and can usually keep a level head – even under emotional duress.
Because INFPs have the Feeling trait, they experience much stronger emotions than others. From the outside looking in, their emotional reactions may seem over-the-top and extreme to others. But for INFPs, their powerful emotions are one of their greatest strengths.
An INFP’s superior understanding of complex emotions can help them to identify powerful emotions more quickly than others. When INFPs face strong emotions like sadness, they may feel drawn to them because they understand them.
Although INFPs are emotional, they keep their feelings hidden from others. They rarely express outward displays of emotion and prefer to work through their feelings when they are alone. This alone time is closely related to their Introverted tendencies.
INFP is one of the rarest personality types, with around 4% of the population making up this group. Typically, INFPs are known for feeling misunderstood and alone. The scarcity of like-minded people INFPs can relate to can make them feel isolated.
These feelings of isolation and loneliness are typically associated with sadness, and many INFPs experience this emotion when they’re alone. For this reason, INFPs may feel drawn to sadness because they can relate their own experiences to this emotion.
Similarly, INFPs see the world in a unique way. They are wise and creative individuals who can quickly develop new ways of thinking and understanding the world around them. They are generally abstract thinkers and use abstract ideas like emotions to help them make sense of their everyday experiences.
INFPs are tethered to their experiences. Because they are primarily coupled with powerful emotions, they may find it difficult to separate the two. So INFPs can actually use emotions like sadness to relive events and memories. This means that INFPs have a special relationship with sadness that others may not fully understand.
Lastly, INFPs are intuitive. Their instinctual nature leads them to react or make decisions based on emotions rather than logic. INFPs will typically follow their gut and don’t care about nitty-gritty details or making sense of something.
Instead, they live their life based on their emotional instincts and intuition. This may be why some INFPs gravitate toward sadness. It simply feels instinctual to be drawn in by powerful emotions!
Do INFPs Absorb Emotions?
For empathic personalities, absorbing emotions is second nature. Some empaths can even experience emotional burnout when they’re constantly bombarded with the intense emotions of others. However, unlike other Feeling personality types, INFPs don’t absorb emotions. Instead, they have a unique way of handling others’ feelings.
INFPs can reflect the emotions of others by blending their innate sense of empathy and sympathy. They can blend these two concepts and create a new, innovative way of caring for those in need.
Sympathy is imagining how you would feel if you were in the same situation as others. It’s a way for individuals to relate their own emotions to others. On the other hand, empathy is imagining or understanding why someone feels the way they do. Empathy usually takes on the point of view of the person in emotional distress.
For INFPs, their blend of sympathy and empathy helps them understand how and why someone feels a specific emotion. This is entirely different from other Feeling personalities, which can only display empathy!
When an INFP has a good idea of the how and why, they can mirror the emotions of others to put them at ease and show them, they can relate to their emotional struggles. However, INFPs don’t display these emotions outwardly.
INFPs tend to bottle their emotions and hide their true feelings from others. They tend to do this for both their emotions and the mirrored emotions of others. But while they are highly emotionally intelligent and can efficiently work through their own feelings, they may feel burdened by the emotions of others.
While they can get overwhelmed, INFPs also understand what it takes to rid themselves of negative feelings. And by mirroring the emotions of others, they can find solutions to help not only themselves but those in need, to find a way out of their despair.
Why Do INFPs Like Sad Things?
INFPs enjoy strong emotions – including sadness. They may feel drawn to powerful emotions because they can relate to them and often use them to make sense of their world. They are keenly aware that you sometimes have to go through bad times to fully appreciate the good times. Because of their emotional intelligence, INFPs are conscious of what follows sadness.
Like most personality types with the Feeling trait, emotions are a magnet for INFPs. They can’t help but gravitate toward sad people. Their creative and artistic nature also allows them to appreciate sad movies, art, books, and music in a way that others simply can’t.
INFPs are highly sensitive to emotions and can pick up on subtle nuances that others may miss. While you may feel a twinge of sadness when watching a sad movie, INFPs can often feel the sadness the characters are experiencing even though they aren’t real! This makes them the perfect group to appreciate negative emotions and learn from them to help others.
Although INFPs may feel drawn to sadness, the question remains: Why do they like sad things? There are many reasons INFPs may seem to enjoy the emotion others actively avoid. And almost all of their reasons relate to the innate characteristics and traits that make this personality group unique.
INFPs Use Sadness To Inspire Hope
INFPs are experts at understanding and dissecting complex or powerful emotions. INFPs feel their emotions much more strongly than others, and their emotional reactions are heightened. So instead of looking at strong emotions as all-consuming and terrifying, INFPs can relate to them much better than their peers! While others may feel overwhelmed by these feelings, INFPs feel right at home.
INFPs are future-oriented and spend more time envisioning the future instead of focusing on the here and now. When INFPs feel sadness, it is often also accompanied by feelings of hope. While this may seem counter-intuitive, it makes this personality type so interesting.
While some may see this as a negative trait, INFPs use it to their advantage. Looking past current circumstances (especially in difficult or trying situations!) can help cultivate a sense of hope even when things feel hopeless!
INFPs are also optimists. Their glass is always half full, which remains true even in challenging situations. When INFPs feel sadness, they may see it as a gateway that leads to something better. In this case, it leads to a brighter future. They also view sadness as an opportunity to make themselves stronger so they are better prepared to deal with similar emotions in the future.
INFPs know there’s no rainbow without a little bit of rain! Thanks to their expertise in understanding emotions, they know how to weather the storm better than anyone. INFPs don’t shy away from confronting complex emotions when times get tough. Instead, they embrace them and use them to learn how to better help others who are in similar situations.
INFPs Use Sadness As An Opportunity For Personal Development
When you go through periods of intense sadness, you may feel hopeless. It’s not uncommon to wonder how you got to where you are and what you can change to turn your circumstances around.
INFPs have similar thoughts and feelings, but their unique perspective can help them see past their challenges. In addition to cultivating hope for the future, INFPs use sadness as an opportunity to re-evaluate their circumstances and find their way back to their true selves.
The INFP personality type has a strong moral compass. INFPs are fiercely loyal to their ideals, values, and beliefs. But when they experience sadness, it may be because they’re strayed too far from these ideals. Instead of despairing over their negative emotions, INFPs use times of sadness as an excuse to get in touch with their core beliefs and alter their behavior and actions to better align with them.
They will typically set themselves on a new path more closely related to what they believe and want to achieve and can sometimes find happiness in doing so. While others may see negative emotions like sadness as a rough patch, an INFP looks at them with one thing in mind – opportunity!
Because they use sadness as a time of reflection and introspection, INFPs may want to experience sadness to help them figure out what to do next. Instead of confusion and aggravation, INFPs may find it helpful to take into their sadness to steer them in the right direction.
INFPs Want To Help Others
INFPs enjoy strong emotions (yes, even the negative ones!) because they can help them better understand how to cope, work through them, and help others who are experiencing the same problems.
We’ve already spoken about how INFPs use sadness to their advantage. They use it to gain more self-awareness, realign themselves with their beliefs, and inspire hope for a better and brighter future. But these revelations aren’t just to help themselves out of a dark hole. Instead, INFPs savor their sadness because they know they’ll gain more insight and perspective on how to help others.
INFPs are caring individuals who go out of their way to help those in need. While they may be reserved, their boldness shines when they need to be protective of the people they care about.
Because INFPs are always searching for deep and meaningful relationships with others, they are always trying to find a way to connect with them. One of the easiest ways to bond with others is for INFPs to relate to them through complex emotional challenges or support and care.
When an INFP sees someone in need, they’re quick to jump to their aid and help in any way they can, even if it’s as simple as spending quality time together! INFPs value their relationships and place great emphasis on being there for their friends and loved ones in times of need.
By understanding not only the sadness their loved ones are feeling but also being able to sympathize and empathize with them, INFPs can tap into their emotional intelligence and wealth of knowledge to help them. But to do this, they first have to know what these emotions feel like.
Conclusion
INFPs tend to gravitate toward people in need. Similarly, they are more likely to enjoy a sad song on the radio or read heart-wrenching books that would reduce others to tears! Although this is partly due to their creativity, it also links to their Feeling trait.
While it may seem paradoxical to use sadness as a positive thing, INFPs have a knack for using their natural optimism and forward-thinking to focus on the good that sadness could bring rather than how they feel in the moment.
