How To Be A Healthier INTP, By An INTP

How to be a Healthier INTP, by an INTP

Create a system and build your day around it. And no, I’m not talking about a schedule because we know we suck at following them. For instance, I bet you forget to drink water if you are not reminded in a way or another. I make sure to drink a glass of water every three hours. “Oh, but wouldn’t that make things harder?” Not at all! I wake up at 6, drink a glass of water. Then again at 9. Then at 12 when I have lunch. And then at 3pm and so on. We’re always looking at the time. Might as well put that to good use. Also! Try to pick three things you want to do the next day before you go to bed. And then switch doing them throughout your day. If I choose to study, update my blog and work out, I might study a little, then go and work out. And then Update. Then back to studying. 

Reward yourself. Between those 3 things sneak in some fun. We’re too impatient to reward ourselves at the end of the day. Start small!

Sleep early and wake up early. Sleep is so important! The better you sleep the easier it will be for you do grasp a hold of your inferior functions. By default we are not very aware of our surroundings. Getting enough sleep will help you keep your mind sharp. If your sleep schedule is disastrous, start slowly. Let’s say you sleep at 3 am. Try going bed one hour earlier than that for a week. And then always reduce the time by an hour week by week. “But I won’t fall sleep even if I lay down.” That’s alright. Try to do things that relax you before bed. Listen to podcasts, play a game on you phone for a bit, read a book. Anything that you find relaxing. 

Use your bed only to sleep and bang. (At least try to reduce the time you lay in your bed.) Seriously, if you’re not going to bed for any of those reasons, don’t go at all.

Never go to bed if you’re hungry. It’ll just make you feel uncomfortable and you’ll have a harder time going to sleep. 

Work out!! This is so important. It’ll help you feel more present in the moment. Teaches you how to be okay with being uncomfortable, creates discipline (which we INxPs really lack)  and it’s good for your health. Also it’ll make you feel more confident with yourself. Start with working out 2 minutes a day. Jumping rope is a good idea as well! Don’t worry to much. You’ll see that soon your time will get longer. 

Try grasping information randomly about the subject you’re studying at least a few days before your exam. We grasp information easier when it’s thrown at us randomly but that in our logic makes a lot of sense. I really don’t know how to explain this that well. But let’s say that you’re learning a foreign language. It’s probably easier for you to learn words at random periods of time, rather than when the teacher makes a list of them and gives it to you expecting you to master them for the upcoming exam. You’ll learn them anyway, I’m sure, but you’ll probably forget them once the exam is over if they didn’t make a logical sense in your brain. 

If you don’t know what you want, then know what you don’t want. A lot of people take the route that will take them to their goal. But what if you don’t have one? Then do your best planning at avoiding things that you don’t want happening. I know this seems obvious, but we often fall down a rabbit hole and forget where we are, or who we are. 

Take alone time even when you’re not feeling apathetically antisocial. Make it clear to people who know you that from x to y time, you want to relax. Soon you’ll have a better grasp of your tendencies to isolate from the world. 

Learn to distinguish your feelings from those of other people. Contrary to popular belief, we’re extremely empathetic thanks to our buddy Fe. And we struggle a lot with emotional outbursts that come from others. If said emotions are too intense, we might get ill even physically. Take deep breaths down to your belly, and use you Ti to logically make sense of the situation. Is there any reason for me to feel sad/angry/hurt/whatever right now? Explain to yourself why you shouldn’t be feeling like that and get the situation back in control.

Don’t let people step on you. Honestly, if someone is taking advantage of your good nature then call them out on it. If they are not willing to talk about it and instead deny the facts, then leave. Do whatever you can to get out of that situation. 

You are more important than what other people expect from you. No matter how nice you are, people will always be unhappy. That said, always give people a chance, and if they miss it that’s on them. You can go back to taking care of yourself.

Realize that you can’t help people who are too stubborn and refuse to help themselves. Don’t beat yourselves over it. Give advice and a helping hand, but if you see that they are not taking them, leave them to take responsibility for themselves. It is absolutely not your job to take upon yourself the responsibility of other’s actions, or the lack of them. I know it sounds harsh, but the sooner you realize this, the better; not only for you, but for those who you tried to help as well.

Don’t share your opinions where you know they are not welcome. Sometimes, people will refuse to see the truth, and that’s on them. Do not try to convince them otherwise. Shrug it off and go on with your day. Often times our ideas seem a bit too ‘out there’ to other people. Especially to certain sensory types (looking at you XSFJ), but of course they are not the only ones. You might have a harder time having a deep conversation with them, but don’t let this stop you. If you see that your idea gets ignored, just sit back and watch the world burn. Have some popcorn while you’re at it.

That said! Don’t be afraid to share your ideas and opinions. Never let fear decide for you. If you’re feeling fearful and anxious just ask yourself: What am I afraid of? List your fears, and then conquer them one by one.

Never allow people to use guilt against you. Realize when people are doing this to manipulate you and break free from it. Realize that whatever happened, happened. It’s okay. Learn from it so it won’t repeat itself and then move on. You don’t need to beat yourself over it every day for the rest of your life. Forgive yourself. We’re human. Mistakes is what we learn from. 

A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. Learn to incorporate your inferior functions in your daily life. Look up videos and information on your type and especially pay attention to unhealthy patterns. See if any of them resonate with you. The first step to getting rid of a problem is by acknowledging it. 

Try do get out of your comfort zone sometimes, but don’t go and throw yourself off a cliff. Being out of your comfort zone might be stressful, but it shouldn’t give you a mental breakdown. If you’re feeling that it is too much for you, then retreat (mission failed, we’ll get them next time) but don’t be afraid to try again. However, if it is something that isn’t for you, don’t try to force it upon yourself. Being comfortable is just as important. Try to balance out the two. For example, I am not fond of loud places with a lot of people so going to a pub for me is too much, especially because I’m not interested in whatever is going on there. Going to the gym however is out of my comfort zone, but I enjoy working out, so I’m more willing to try it. After you break your comfort zone enough times it becomes ordinary, and you won’t such a hard time with it anymore. 

Keep a journal to sort out your ideas and things you learned. Especially those that you know will help you to develop your personality. You don’t have to write on it every day. I certainly don’t, but when the need arises I know where to turn to. 

Take notice of the patterns of your life and see what works and what doesn’t for you. 

Use a little bit of that Fe with people you trust. It becomes extremely destructive when we let it sleep and awaken only when our Ti is having a breakdown. Tend to it from time to time. As much as we do not like it, we can’t deny that it is a part of us.

Lastly, go with the flow. Don’t try to control things that are out of your grasp!

That’s it for now. I hope this helps!