THE INFJ PROTECTOR. There are many interesting INFJ archetypes worth mentioning and one important form of the INFJ is as a protector and confidant. INFJs are not normally aggressive types but are more than comfortable to put themselves in the middle of the storm in order to protect the flowers that grow below. INFJs can pretend to have sworn to live a logical, rational life of detachment. But if lightning is about to strike, INFJs will rise to the occasion.
The INFJ is a Protector (Ambivert) alongside INTJs, ISTJs and ISFJs. The INFJ is also a Magician, a Leader and a Nobleman archetype. Learn more about the archetypes here.
Are INFJs Protective Of Others?
Unlike the ESTP, an INFJ is deeply aware of the harshness to nature and to real life, and to the fact that life can be unfair. INFJs weep knowing they can’t protect everyone from pain and hardship, and having inferior extroverted sensing, you know life can be overwhelming and tough at times. It makes sense then that you’d want to protect other people. You’d want others to live a life of comfort, peace, and harmony.
Are INFJs more Protectors or Healers? Anyone who spends time with an INFJ should be able to notice that the INFJ is not so much a figure of nurture. INFJs are brooding, intense and at times even cold. If you are looking for someone who will listen compassionately, sharing in “ooh’s” and “aaw’s”, or someone who will cheer you up, the INFJ is not your main go to person.
INFJs work to keep other people safe from harm but often know little about how to treat pain or to make you feel better once you fall. A problem with the idea of the INFJ as a healer is that INFJs can’t really detach from the pain as easily as others. A healer must be prepared to cause other pain at times and sometimes, you have to feel worse before you can feel better. This is not a truth INFJs easily recognise.
The INFJ Confidant
Being around an INFJ is like having a comfort-blanket wrapped around you. Your INFJ will do anything to make you feel more comfortable and at ease. It’s important for an INFJ to keep you in good spirits by picking up any slack in your life. The most obvious INFJ protector variation is the INFJ confidant and this is a very common way to depict INFJs.
INFJs make good listeners who carry your secrets and struggles with you. A problem with the INFJ protector is that they are so intent to keep you from feeling pain that they will not share anything dark or difficult or anything that could cause you to worry or feel bad. You may find that the INFJ knows all your secrets, but that there’s little you will know about your INFJ.
As you grow as an INFJ, you’ll recognise that you can’t hold back too much, and that if you hold back your darkness for too long, you’ll blind someone with it. It’s better that other people know when you are in pain and what you struggle with so that you can keep each other safe. You’ll find that other people feel better knowing that you are human, and that it will make your INFJ intensity a little less sharp in the edges.
The INFJ Protector – You Can’t Protect Everyone From Everything
A probem with the INFJ protector is that it is hard for INFJs to see you in pain. More often than not, INFJs will blame themselves for letting you get hurt, feeling they should have thought further ahead, foreseen something, changed something. During their darkest days, they’ll see themselves as the black birds of your misfortune.
At times, this may be correct. INFJ, if you hold your friends and partners too tightly in the hand, there’s a chance they’ll fall extra hard when you let go. And so, if you as an INFJ can let go of your need for control (because that is what it is) and accept that other’s will stumble, your life will be easier, and so will theirs.
As an INFJ, avoid the idea that other people will be better off without you. Also avoid fatalism. You make other’s lives easier – and more often than not, you are a lucky charm for those around you. Other people naturally feel they can rely on you. Yours is a turtle back that will never crack. People love you as a protector and confidant, but you will want to let them choose when to rest on your chest, and when to face life boldly.
Are you an INFJ protector and are INFJs protective? What do you think?
