INFP Self Care: 9 Easy yet Effective Tips

What does INFP Self Care look like?

Oftentimes, the INFP personality type loves to help and heal others. However, INFPs need to learn how to prioritize taking care of themselves. INFP self-care is critical for the well-being of an INFP as a highly sensitive person in an overstimulating world. They can be vulnerable to physical, spiritual, and emotional exhaustion or feeling overwhelmed when they neglect their own needs.

In this article, you will learn 9 easy tips for effective self-care for an INFP.

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to get caught up in the demands and responsibilities of everyday life. It’s essential, however, to take time for yourself, reconnect with your needs, and foster a sense of balance and harmony for optimal physical and mental health.

Remember, self-care is not a luxury but a necessity. It is a gentle reminder that your well-being matters. Embrace these helpful tips on your journey toward self-discovery, self-compassion, and self-love through self-care.

Tip 1: Prioritize Rest, Relaxation, & Rejuvenation Time

Of all the introverts, INFPs may just have the highest need for quiet time and self-reflection. They need enough time to be able to process their own emotions and thoughts. Alone time is useful to clear away any emotional buildup.

Prioritizing alone time for an INFP is very important because of the combination of introverted feeling (Fi) and introverted sensing (Si) as the first and third cognitive functions of an INFP. These functions are very introspective at a personal level. They crave self-reflection and self-analysis to understand their own thoughts, senses, and experiences.

One thing you could do to set yourself up for success is to create a safe sanctuary for yourself. Somewhere that makes you feel great, recharged, and at peace even if you are busy or only have a little time to enjoy.

You can really benefit from carving out a mindful corner for yourself somewhere in your home. Design a calming place that lets you retreat and makes your body feel at ease.

This personality type definitely recharges through having the opportunity to spend time just being. What is most productive for self-care is ironically scheduling in free time to choose on-the-go decisions. INFPs want freedom of choice and the ability to decide later on.

Perhaps when the time comes, an INFP might actually feel like going on a bike ride or to a yoga class, enjoying an evening bubble bath, or meeting friends for a happy hour. Who knows, but they want to have the possibilities.

The self-care takeaway here is to schedule me-time when you can spend time doing whatever you want to do to satisfy your own needs for alone time where you have the option for spontaneous decisions at the moment.

Tip 2: Engage in Emotional Release

Compared to other types, the INFP (and the ISFP Designer) is a type that viscerally feels emotions. They are rational and consistent in their value judgments. Fi-doms operate primarily by judging everything in comparison to their own personal ethics and morals.

As a result, sometimes this personality type may feel like they are the only person who feels emotions so intensely.

When they are good, it feels amazing. When it’s bad, it’s very easy to feel sad, lost, and disconnected from reality.

When INFPs feel wrong or like they are having a hard time, any emotional release will be very helpful to free them from feeling overwhelmed.

An emotional release could be practiced physically or mentally. Walking, exercising, or moving your body in any way are physical options to release pent-up emotions. While journaling, talking, or meditating are great ways for mental release.

Trying out something will build new skills to learn how to transform overwhelm into peace.

Bonus points if you find an activity that allows you to enjoy the beauty of nature while relaxing into your being.

Tip 3: Do Random Acts of Kindness

INFPs have a heart of service at their core, which makes them people who really love to be helpful and positively impact others. They need genuine, meaningful connections and heartwarming experiences.

Connection is an antidote to depression. Some ideas to consider are volunteering, starting a service business, or giving away something you think could help someone else. Basically, any act that could make someone else’s day a little better, easier, or happier.

Service is truly a two-way gift. The giver experiences the joy of helping, while the receiving enjoys the gift of generosity, hope, and kindness.

Tip 4: Practice Creative Self-Expression

The INFP personality type is truly a creative type who loves to transform an idea into an expressive creation.

They are a person who can really benefit from doing art in their quiet time. Art therapy is great for anyone’s mental health, but especially creative types. Artists need outlets that allow them to take an idea from the mind to physical reality.

Tapping into their extroverted intuition (Ne), INFPs love to explore unique ideas and inspirations. Naturally, you will love to channel your rich inner world and tap into your intuitive nature.

Be open to trying different mediums and artistic avenues. For example, try painting, photography, or even maybe dancing. Art can definitely be a potentially enjoyable way to connect with others too through sharing creations and projects with the world.

Getting into the artistic flow will be a very fun self-care option for an INFP.

Tip 5: Set Upapologetic Boundaries

INFPs are super empathetic individuals and have a tendency to absorb emotions and stress from others, especially when they listen to others talking or when people come to them for advice.

You need to learn how to set boundaries to protect your energy because of this strong sense of empathy. Boundaries are helpful to put distance between yourself and the influence of others.

A healthy INFP might feel guilty as they learn how to practice emotional boundaries, but it will get easier with practice. Boundaries will help you to be a better friend and relative to your friends and family.

Tune into your inner voice for when to say no, when to express anger, and when to distance yourself from anybody or anything that drains you.

If it’s not a heck yes, then it’s absolutely a no! Reject anything that negatively impacts your energy. Prioritize yourself and your energetic peace. Listen to your body as it will tell you clues about whether or not something feels truly aligned to you.

This gift of respect for yourself will be the healing self-care that you need in order to sustain healthy relationships that uplift you rather than stress you out.

Tip 6: Embrace Genuine Emotional Support

INFPs love to offer their listening ear to others, give good advice, and never shy from an emotionally-expressive venting session for a friend. Sometimes this can lead to an imbalance in such a relationship.

To balance friendships, INFPs must learn how to talk and open up to others to embrace reciprocated support. Of course, only when they feel safe to.

As introverts, you won’t desire quantity.

Instead, finding a few high-quality friends can be incredibly satisfying. One best friend will be more soulful than dozens of acquaintances. Additionally, such friendship is less work to maintain yet yields higher enjoyment.

Don’t forget to find friends who make you laugh!

In Myers-Briggs, the other Idealist personality types will be particularly awesome friends for an INFP, which include the ENFJ Mentor, INFJ Advocate, ENFP Inspirer, or another INFP Dreamer. True idealists will have fun talking to each other about mutual interests, similar aspirations, and intriguing observations of human nature. These kinds of relationships will fill true idealists with hope.

Tip 7: Immerse Yourself in Stories

As a result of tertiary introverted sensing (Si), the INFP personality type (and the INTP Researcher) will enter into a state of flow through storytelling. The state of flow is really good for getting out of any thought loops and engaging at the moment.

Reading fiction or watching movies are two ways you could engage in storytelling that are more passive or lower effort when you feel lazy.

However, video games could be a different kind or more active way to engage in stories or fantasies.

While the most active way would be to yourself create stories. For example, you could engage in writing fiction or practice storytelling through content creation. You can try making Youtube videos, recording a podcast, or writing a self-published book. Take an idea you feel passionate about and transform it into something you can share.

Tip 8: Listen to New Perspectives

Did you know the INFP, according to this book, is one Myers-Briggs personality type that uses the whole brain when focused on what others are saying?

This explains why INFPs love to offer a listening ear to others. But sometimes when you don’t want to get mixed up in the emotions of others, you could also just maybe find a new podcast or other content to listen to.

You could go on a walk and pop in some headphones and find a new topic you want to be open-minded to exploring. This will be a great way to relax or take a break while still engaging in learning if you would like.

Taking a break through diving into different philosophies will be refreshing to broaden your worldview.

Tip 9: Practice Self-Love

How could I write tips for self-care without mentioning self-compassion?

One book I recommend to develop and practice self-compassion and self-acceptance is Mirror Work by Louise Hay. It is a 21-day program with daily affirmations to say to yourself in front of a mirror.

I can vouch that this super simple strategy worked for me and felt like innovative yet simple self-care.

Self-compassion and self-love are not just about feeling confident about yourself right now, but they also require that you truly accept yourself in your darker times when maybe you feel less lovable.

Forgive yourself for your mistakes and experience the grace of moving on. This type of practice is spiritual self-care that nourishes your spirit to not lose your light.

Bonus Tip: Seek Professional Support When Needed

Life has its seasons and every person has their limits. Everyone at some point in their lives could definitely benefit from professional help to learn how to emotionally process difficult life circumstances. Anybody, regardless of their personality type, should seek therapy or counseling as necessary when they are feeling stressed in busy or overwhelming situations.

Sometimes you might just need a nonjudgmental ear to talk through feelings that need to be released.

The goal is to let go of toxic thoughts that no longer serve you and that you could totally forget about. Reduce any unnecessary stress.

When I was pregnant, I sought out therapy because I was feeling SO overwhelmed with pregnancy hormones, fear, and moving at the time.

I really benefitted from two women (one was an INTP and the other was an ISTJ) who taught me great emotional coping skills. Those therapy sessions felt like being coached about how to better process heavy emotions.

If you ever do decide to invest in professional help, find a therapist that feels safe, rational, and comfortable and schedule support as soon as you think it could benefit you. (Sooner is better than later!)

Conclusion

In summary, the 7 tips for prioritizing self-care to be a healthy INFP are:

1. Prioritize rest, relaxation, & rejuvenation time (create a cozy sanctuary and recharge routine)

2. Engage in emotional release (allow yourself to release pent-up feelings)

3. Do random acts of kindness (connect to others through service)

4. Practice creative self-expression (find some free time to make some art)

5. Set unapologetic boundaries (if it’s not a heck yes, then it’s a no!)

6. Embrace genuine emotional support (maintain relationships that make you feel light)

7. Immerse yourself in stories (helpful to get your brain into the state of flow)

8. Listen to new perspectives (another way to tap into the flow)

9. Practice self-love (fall in love with yourself)

If you’re an INFP, you need to prioritize your wellness and practice self-care regularly to actually enjoy how you feel most of the time.

You have a lot to offer the world and in order to give it your best, you have to rest enough, reduce stress, and put yourself first.

Please realize that self-care is simply setting yourself up to enjoy your time and experience joy in the present moment.

As a result, you will be able to focus with better clarity and have more fun bringing life to your creative ideas. Overall, self-care will help you have the energy to become your best self. Live, laugh, love!

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