Discover your personality type - take your test!

Everything changes when we decide that the best definition of who we are comes from within. When we know ourselves in a raw and authentic way, beautiful and real, accepting everything that makes us who we are and what will, most likely, never be part of us.

Everything changes when we become aware that when we wake up, the first person we'll talk to is ourselves, and this is the person we certainly will live with for the rest of our lives. There is no truth more certain than this, so today I invite you to take a break and become aware of who you truly are.

To give you a reason why I am writing this, I personally always thought I was an extrovert.

In school, I grew up with a group of friends who accompanied me since kindergarten, and I always had friends outside this group too. I was always involved in various activities beyond school and was part of all the theater groups in the schools I attended. I felt I had well-established relationships with those I grew up with and also kept "adding" other people, from different social contexts, to my considered closest friends. Later, in college, I again had a well-defined group of friends and many other people with whom I connected with. I was part of various student organizations where I had the opportunity to organize events, travel, meet people from other countries and develop my communication skills. After college, I lived, studied, and worked for several years outside of Portugal (still do) and continued establishing friendships and connections with various people.

In general, I considered myself socially "successful."

I felt I could communicate well; I've always had a deep trait of altruism, so people sought me out to talk about feelings and more personal topics; wherever I went, I always ended up having deep conversations with someone and considered myself empathetic (which is easily seen as being friendly and, socially speaking, as an extrovert). I was not the type to constantly make jokes, but someone who made a difference by being "open to others."

In 2018, I began my transformation journey and started to become aware of the significant compensation I needed each time I was in an environment with too many people or in a position of "exposure".

The compensation was being alone, in silence. My supposed extroversion became a burden, and I realized it was, in fact, a constant effort. Having to be "outward", being a trait that we don't feel inside of our own self is very painful, and (I see now) my body expressed itself in so many ways when I didn't want to share... when I didn't feel comfortable doing so... when being in places full of people... when there was some sort of pressure to create interpersonal relationships with those I didn't feel a connection with... among so many other obligations that I placed on myself.

Until I then finally gave myself the opportunity to get to know my best friend: Me.

And I stopped living with(in) such effort.

It was during this process that I discovered the personality test that I recommend to anyone interested in getting to know him/herself.

This test so very comprehensive and revealing!

Today I know that I have a personality type on the Introversion spectrum, and yet I still recognize many of the facets I lived with throughout my life that made me think I was extroverted: communication, empathy and friendliness, altruism, interest and need to step out of my comfort zone, and the tendency to turn toward "others" as a purpose.

However, now that I know I'm an introvert, I respect myself much more in my relationships with others and understand that I don't easily turn superficial/circumstantial relationships—without a negative connotation—into lasting ones. I'm a person of deep, yet light, relationships... without the typical social demands to be or not to be, but where a good truthful conversation is usually the way to go.

I love communicating and relating to others, but now I know more and more—and with better timing—when it's my time to withdraw. I also give myself more time to process certain feelings and events in silence, calmly and by myself.

I believe in and live looking at myself, and all human beings as spiritual, emotional, mental and physical beings.

And having this knowledge, about my personality, was and still is a very important tool for me: which is why I decided to share it with you!

I hope it's also useful to you on this journey, that only you can make for yourself.

Grateful for having read me,

Joana

info@joanacostapessoa.com