My INFP is leaving for grad school in another state and I feel incredibly bummed...

Not OP, but I completely idolized both the INFPs in my life. They were some of the sweetest and most poetic people I've ever met and being in a relationship with them sometimes felt like someone was writing it out of a story book. They both had a very tortured-soul, I'm-a-victim sort of complex but were so innocent about it (and had genuinely been through a lot) that I usually found myself swept up in caring for them or even taking on an almost empathetic melancholy at times. However we had issues communicating, especially in the amount of space and hands-off-ness they required, both on a regular basis to recharge and when the occasional little ripples arose. They were also much more private people and, if you're like many other ENFPs, we tend to talk about everyone and everything, and that was the source of conflict on more than one occasion, even if what was shared was intended to be innocent. There were a lot of times there were silly misunderstandings because they took great offense or were deeply wounded at the very thought of the slightest imperfection in my perception of them, when in reality the thing that had upset them so was such a small thing that it felt very blown out of proportion to me. In the end, I left the first one for the health of both of us, as our communication and trust was increasingly breaking down and there seemed no turning the bus around, even though I still haven't completely stopped pining for him. The other one up and left me one day out of the clear blue when I thought things were perfect. Thanked me for being "the best he'll ever have" and vanished completely, even from his friends, for months, and I still haven't heard from him again. It's hard not to take that somewhat personally and it left me with a little bit of a complex. :/ Still - can't help but being drawn to INFPs, despite the weird turbulence between us, and the more I read about them, the better I understand where I went wrong in the past. It's definitely something I'd recommend you do too if you're seeing one!

/r/ENFP Thread Parent