5 Ways To Deal With Stress As A Highly Sensitive INFJ

“Which way do I go? I’m not sure where to go! I can’t do this!” I yelled. An intense wave of panic shot up my spine. It was hard to breathe. I felt paralyzed as I sat in my vehicle surrounded by traffic and pedestrians.

“Ok. Pull over, and I’ll drive,” my boyfriend calmly said from the passenger side of the car. He is used to dealing with me in panic mode. His words felt like a fresh injection of instant relief.

The situation wasn’t particularly stressful. At least it wouldn’t look that way to a casual observer. We were on our way to see a movie. I’d had a rough day and wasn’t in the best mood. I offered to drive. I bought tickets at a theater we’d never been to and got lost after getting stuck in traffic from a college football game. The stress and anxiety I’d been feeling all day bubbled to the surface, and I was seconds away from a full-blown panic attack at a busy intersection.

I’m an INFJ personality type. I’m also a highly sensitive person with anxiety. Most of the time you wouldn’t know that I’m highly sensitive or have anxiety. I’m reasonably good at managing my sensitive emotions when needed. However, this repression often means anxiety comes out at inopportune times around those who care about me the most, like my boyfriend.

Highly Sensitive INFJs and Anxiety

Many INFJ personality types are highly sensitive. Highly sensitive people (HSP) feel emotions more strongly and are more impacted by their external environments than people who are not highly sensitive. Highly sensitive INFJs experience stress and anxiety more intensely than the average person.

Getting lost in traffic is something that is stressful for many people. However, the highly sensitive person feels this stress 10x more deeply. While the traffic may be what triggers the anxiety, it’s perpetuated by several other factors. These factors may include bright street lights, loud noises from traffic, the crowd of people on the sidewalk, the mood of the person or people in the car with us or the fact that we’re running late. For the highly sensitive INFJ, sensory overload heightens negative emotions.

Managing stress as a highly sensitive INFJ means learning to recognize what contributes to our stress and anxiety and what helps us deal with these emotions. Below are five ways to deal with stress and anxiety as a highly sensitive INFJ.

(Want more information about your personality type? Take the TypeFinder Personality Test.)

Avoid stimulants

Introverts, especially those of us who are also highly sensitive, need less stimulation than extroverts. This is because we naturally have stronger reactions to sensory stimulation. Many of us rely on stimulants like caffeine and cigarettes (nicotine) to deal with stress and exhaustion. While stimulants and depressants, such as alcohol, have short-term stress relief effects, they contribute to stress and anxiety for highly sensitive people. If you regularly consume these things in high quantities, you may feel immune to the physical impacts, but that doesn’t mean you’re immune to the mental effects. Avoiding or limiting stimulants and alcohol will help improve how often you experience and how you handle stress and anxiety.

Create habits around activity

Too much spontaneity can be extremely stressful for a highly sensitive INFJ. It may sound like a contradiction, but structure and habits actually make us better equipped to deal with the unexpected. This is because habits give us a sense of control over our environment. When something doesn’t go according to plan, we are more capable of getting back on track and therefore lessening the amount of stress we experience.

INFJs should focus on building habits around activity since that’s not an area we’re naturally skilled at managing. If you feel like things are out of control, start small. You don’t have to start a new exercise routine, diet plan and financial budget all in one day — in fact, you shouldn’t even try to take on that much at once. Start with something like going to bed at the same time each night. Achieving small habits will gradually make it easier to achieve bigger ones. I highly recommend The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg for useful tips, and inspiring stories focused on building lifelong habits.

Talk about how you feel

As an INFJ, you are probably used to people talking to you about how they feel. However, you likely don’t open up to others half as much as they do to you. Talking about feelings is a huge stress relief for INFJs. Holding in negative emotions contributes to our stress and anxiety levels. That’s why we typically feel relief and satisfaction after a good cry or even a fight with our significant other. As Extraverted Feelers, we need to talk about things to feel like they are completely resolved. If you don’t have someone you feel comfortable opening up to, you can start by writing out your feelings in a journal or even talking about them out loud to a pet or inanimate object. This may sound strange, but merely expressing our feelings out loud and hearing our words can help INFJs find clarity and relief.

Take a break

INFJs feel a strong sense of emotional and social responsibility. We want to make the world a better place and help others deal with their problems. Helping others brings us satisfaction, but it can also lead to stress. When you start to feel anxiety as the result of doing too much, allow yourself to take a break. Remember you’re a highly sensitive introvert. You need alone time to recharge. Treat yourself to relaxing activities like taking a bubble bath or reading a book. If you find yourself continually fulfilling other people’s obligations, practice setting boundaries, limiting your availability and saying no.

Develop a lightly sensory-focused hobby

Extraverted Sensing, the function that focuses on what we’re experiencing in the present moment, is the Inferior function of the INFJ. INFJs enjoy pleasant sensory experiences, but too much can quickly lead to stress and anxiety. This is why so many INFJs are also HSP. However, hobbies that require a light sensory focus can be extremely stress-relieving for INFJs. Make sure that your hobby isn’t related to work and isn’t something you’re doing for anyone else. It’s best to choose something you can do in private, so you’re not worrying about living up to any external expectations. Remember, light sensory focus means you’re not jumping out of airplanes. Some ideas to consider include coloring, cooking, low-stress video or computer games, gardening or yoga.

Are you a highly sensitive INFJ? What are some ways you deal with stress and anxiety?

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About The Author

Megan Malone

7 COMMENTS

  1. Gilly Maddison | 4th Dec 17

    Thanks for this brilliant post. The way I deal with the stress of being a HSP INJF is to completely withdraw from everything every few weeks to recalibrate. In that time I go into intensive creativite activities on my own while listening to music. Painting, photography, writing, crafting etc. Then I’m ready for another round of being back ‘out there’ being ‘normal’. The hardest thing for me is excusing myself from activities that I am committed to with others when the need for solitude hits. It’s like a switch being flicked, once it’s happened, I have to disappear. And it’s too difficult to explain to ‘normal’ people. I go to great lengths to hide the way I am and it is exhausting at times. It’s easier knowing we aren’t crazy, (which is what I thought all through my younger life until I understood). Again, thank you for this insight.

    • Megan | 9th Dec 17

      I can definitely relate to feeling like you want to withdraw from the world. I think that is common among introverts, HSPs and INFJs. I’m glad you found the article helpful!

    • Woody Rini | 12th Dec 17

      Thanks for being open and sharing this Gilly!

      I had a “retreat” moment too this past week where I had to flip my switch. Something I’ve realized is that the thought behind my need to completely hide is the thought:

      “I don’t deserve to be happy” or “I can’t be happy unless everyone else is”

      These are really tough because they are never true! Lol. So I just kind of looked around last week and said “wait… what If I thought I deserved to be happy? Not just to “optimize” things for everyone else.” And it was pretty empowering. Still working through the emotions but maybe it will turn into an INFJBlog guest post sometime? 🙂

      -Woody

      • Gilly | 13th Dec 17

        Oh my goodness – lightbulb moment! I was just sitting here, still in retreat mode, wondering why I have pulled out of life and cancelled everything I was doing right up to Christmas and then your comment popped up in my emails. You have summed up how I feel in one short sentence – ‘I can’t be happy unless everyone else is.’ But I hadn’t actually articulated that to myself. Thank you for writing the words I needed to get some clarity! And for the record, I am not INFJ, I am INFP. I hadn’t taken any notice of the Myers Briggs personality typing at the time I took the test at work because it seemed like another one of those pointless management fads. But I knew it was one of the rare ones. After an INFJ friend recently brought it into my life again I thought that was the one but digging through all my old notes, I realised I am the other rare one that is a bit more common than INFJ. So I probably shouldn’t be on here! 🙂

  2. Jenny-Ann | 29th Dec 17

    Reply from an INFJ Swede…

    Stress at work became a reality for me this fall. I decided not to go to work for two days (four because of the weekend). During these days I started to blog. I wanted to write – something – and it made me think of everything but work.

    To Talk about how you feel is hard for me. Speaking words about feelings doesn’t go so well. It’s feelings, you have to feel them. And if I DO try to say something it all sound so clear and perfect in my mind but as soon I open my mouth, total gibberish 😂

  3. lola | 5th Mar 18

    infj, hsp and think i developed diabetes 1 ( the skinny diabetes ) through high sensitivity ( was in icu and all that, thankfully i can reverse symptoms so was partially misdiagnosed, as you cannot reverse diabetes 1. well, i didn´t look deeper into the issue if there are exceptions ).

    i am sensitive to certain fabrics. i am wearing an itchy jumper right now that i´m about to throw in the corner ( a present ). i can´t wear polyester or itchy wool. i need fabrics that make my skin breathe. a right fabric can feel like heaven. total physical comfort that sinks deep into the body and psyche.

    i am sensitive to light. in the way that it can be too harsh or that it can upset my mood and conjure up numerous weighty images that one feels throughout one´s whole being. i wear sunglasses at home when it´s bright sometimes. i have orange lensed ones that instantly lighten up the brain when one puts them on. i tested that recently and there is an instant reaction.

    for a long time after hospital i would always have an electric fan on, it felt like wind by the sea. little things can have large effects on my wellbeing. i react strongly to the air, if it´s stuffy i can feel like i´m suffocating. a fan is like a godsend.

    if i don´t eat and am hungry i can feel like i´m about to collapse, at worst. i have almonds handy that stabilise my feeling shaky. also another godsend. little things with big …. now what is the word. effects.

    i can´t really use products with many chemicals, the scents make me feel sick and sometimes my skin feels itchy. i didn´t care about selfcare for a while, but now after hospital, i feel an urge to look after myself and enjoy physical selfcare. products with a large portion of natural ingredients are like a treat, after not taking care of oneself, it feels like a small holiday.

    little things that can have strong effects. still working on finding more answers and solutions but these little things help me a lot.

  4. lola | 5th Mar 18

    oh and i constantly retreat. being so sensitive to stimulation can be overwhelming. sometimes it is like an assault of information, a bombardment. i like to categorize information and think when one is bombarded and can categorize the information, then the stress dissipates a little or more than a little.

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