I don't believe stereotypes are a good thing *but* they seem to
  be a reality that I can't avoid entirely.

  So I get around it by recognizing that there _may_ be *some*
  truth in the stereotypical labels thrown at me through the years
  and I have learned the ways in which I appear to fit vs where I
  actually *do* fit vs where I don't fit.

  Consider it in these terms:
  Scripts.

  Through life, we accumulate scripts we like. They can come from
  movies, from people we admire, from people we don't like.
  They're little little plays that we re-enact over and over again
  as we go through life.

  Someone says a particular thing, then we respond in a fashion
  that feels agreeable and then we carry on.

  But - what of what we said is actually "you" and what is part of
  a script you learned long ago and only feels like you?

  Example: I consider myself unique and an individual. Why do I
  think that? That's a way of thinking. That way of thinking came
  from somewhere.

  Scripts. I like the script where I play the part of the guy who
  is an individualist, that believes everybody is unique and a
  special sunflower that's been unrecognized by this harsh world
  we call home.

  I'm the perfect middle school guidance counsellor. In fact, on
  career tests, that often shows up as #1, and I can't argue it -
  I could be one tomorrow.

  But why? It's one of the scripts that suits me and that I follow
  unconsciously most of the time.   I'll give another example of
  how we can follow scripts and not even see it:
  You said:

  "As humans we want to put people in boxes but my brain just
  doesn't do that until I really know the person.

  Of course it makes sense, but it doesn't make sense coming from
  you. "

  Ask: Why doesn't it make sense coming from me?

  It's because I didn't follow the script there.   And now for the
  part that blew *my* mind when I realized it:
  EVERYTHING I JUST SAID IS ALSO A SCRIPT. It's because I read a
  book called Scripts People Play that was sitting on the back of
  the toilet growing up and was part of a pop psychology movement
  of the time:
  [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_script
  So what's me?
  Where am I?
  Damned if I know tongue emoticon
  And THAT - those last three lines, makes me fit the stereotype
  of the "typical INFP" - a stereotype I'm _mostly_ ok with
  sometimes tongue emoticon I like archetypes better than
  stereotypes anyway tongue emoticon Right there, I was playing
  the archetype or Trope of the "Wise Dad" from TV shows Who
  Explains It All. I'm not though. I'm just a guy sitting behind
  his computer typing in a facebook group.

References

  Visible links
  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_script